Hamburg, 5 August 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Eighteen people were injured after an Austrian tour bus crashed and fell into a ditch on a motorway near Hanover, Germany on Saturday.

The 18 people with minor injuries were taken to surrounding hospitals, said a police spokeswoman.

A total of 19 people between the ages of 24 and 74 and a 9-year-old child were on the bus, she added.

The bus driver was being investigated for endangering traffic and negligence.

The bus, which was coming from Austria, was on its way to Norway. It was not initially clear where in Austria the bus had left from.

The bus had crashed on the Autobahn 2 near Peine, east of Hanover early on Saturday, ending up on its side in a ditch.

The cause of the accident remains unclear, though it is certain that no other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Police, firefighters and a rescue helicopter were deployed on the scene.

The spokeswoman said the recovery of the vehicle was difficult as the bus was lying in a ditch and required heavy equipment.

Many passengers managed to escape the bus by themselves, regional broadcaster NDR reported.

"We had to create an extension ladder and platform to bridge the ditch and then rescued the patients via the front window and via the rear window of the bus," Peine's deputy city fire chief Hendrik Wachsmann told the station.

The motorway was closed in the direction of Hanover in the morning, but was reopened again several hours later after the bus was recovered and towed away.

Photo: MIA archive