Prosecutors investigating Polish bus crash

BERLIN – Prosecutors on Monday opened an investigation of a German woman whose car hit a Polish tourist bus, triggering a crash that left 13 people dead and another 38 injured.

Potsdam prosecutor’s spokesman Ralf Roggenbuck told The Associated Press that his office was investigating the 37-year-old driver of the red Mercedes that is believed to have caused Sunday’s crash on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter.

“We assume that some kind of driver error was the cause for the crash,” he said.

The name of the Berlin woman who drove the car was not released.

Both the Mercedes and the bus have been impounded by authorities who were examining them Monday for evidence, while both the passengers of the Mercedes have given witness statements, Roggenbuck said. The driver suffered serious injuries in the crash and has not yet been interviewed.

“With today’s technology ,we will be able to determine exactly how the accident occurred,” Roggenbuck said, adding that the investigation would probably last at least two weeks.

The tour bus was on its way back to Poland from Spain when it crashed on a highway outside Berlin on Sunday. Police said the Mercedes hit the bus as the car merged onto the highway, causing the bus to hit a bridge abutment.

About 120 relatives of the victims arrived in the town of Koenigs Wusterhausen outside Berlin early Monday to try to get more information about their loved ones.