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One killed, 19 hurt in Spain bus crash

  • Story Highlights
  • One person killed, 19 injured when a bus flips north of Barcelona
  • Bus was carrying 60 Dutch students and their supervisors
  • Cause of the crash not immediately known; alcohol test on driver negative
By Al Goodman
CNN Madrid Bureau Chief
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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A teenage Dutch girl was killed and 19 people were injured when a bus carrying 59 students and teachers from a school in Holland flipped over north of Barcelona early Monday, authorities said.

The students in the bus were between ages 15 and 16, approximately, said a regional Catalan police spokeswoman, who by custom is not identified.

The bus, carrying the students on a study trip, had been in Spain only 30 minutes after crossing the border from France when the accident occurred, the Dutch consul in Barcelona, Jan-jaap van de Velde, told CNN.

De Velde said he visited the injured at two hospitals, one in the provincial capital, Girona, and the other in the nearby city of Figueras.

Some suffered serious injuries while others, including the driver, had light injuries, the police spokeswoman said.

The crash happened about 6:20 a.m. (12:20 a.m. ET) as the bus went off a major highway, flipped over and crashed in the town of Bascara in Girona province, the spokeswoman said.

Police conducted an alcohol test on the driver, which came back negative, she said.

The bus was heading for the Mediterranean coastal town of Calella, where the students were to be based while making some trips to Barcelona, De Verde said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

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