A German plane is expected to arrive on the Portuguese island of Madeira on Friday to take home survivors from a bus crash that killed 29 tourists.
Germany's foreign minister announced late on Thursday that the plane and medical crew were being readied. Heiko Maas also said that bodies of the deceased would be transported to Germany once they are properly identified.
The foreign minister spoke after visiting the injured in Madeira's capital, Funchal, and after laying flowers at the site of the crash with his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Santos Silva.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, right, and Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, left, assist in laying a wreath near the scene where a bus crashed in Canico, on Portugal's Madeira Island, Thursday April 18, 2019. All the 29 people killed in a bus crash on Portugal's Madeira Island were German, Portugal's foreign ministry confirmed Thursday. The bus carrying 55 people, all but two of them German tourists, rolled down a steep hill after veering off the road on a bend east of Madeira's capital, Funchal, on Wednesday evening when it was still light and in fine weather. The crash injured 28 others. (AP PhotoArmando Franca)
All the deceased were German. The bus was carrying 55 people, including a Portuguese driver and guide, when it veered off the road and plunged down a slope.
Sixteen people remain hospitalized; authorities say all are out of danger.
A man lights a candle on the side of the road near where a bus crashed into a house below in Canico, on Portugal's Madeira Island, Thursday April 18, 2019. All the 29 people killed in a bus crash on Portugal's Madeira Island were German, Portugal's foreign ministry confirmed Thursday. The bus carrying 55 people, all but two of them German tourists, rolled down a steep hill after veering off the road on a bend east of Madeira's capital, Funchal, on Wednesday evening when it was still light and in fine weather. The crash injured 28 others. (AP PhotoArmando Franca)
Police officers stand on the curve in the road where a bus went over the edge and crashed into a house below in Canico, on Portugal's Madeira Island, Thursday April 18, 2019. All the 29 people killed in a bus crash on Portugal's Madeira Island were German, Portugal's foreign ministry confirmed Thursday. The bus carrying 55 people, all but two of them German tourists, rolled down a steep hill after veering off the road on a bend east of Madeira's capital, Funchal, on Wednesday evening when it was still light and in fine weather. The crash injured 28 others. (AP PhotoArmando Franca)