Rescue workers and other officials working at the wreckage of an overturned Polish tourist bus on the M3 motorway near Mezokeresztes, about 150 km east of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on August 16, 2026. [AFP].

A Polish bus crashed into a ditch on a Hungarian highway early Sunday, killing 12 people and leaving at least 10 with critical injuries, officials said.

The coach, heading from Serbia to Poland, crashed at 01:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday) on the M3 highway near Mezokeresztes, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) east of Budapest, according to police.

The bus, with 57 passengers and two drivers, "left the road, ended up in a ditch, and came to a stop on its side", the national disaster management agency said in a social media post.

Hungary's Interior Minister Gabor Posfai said the driver had been detained and media quoted police as saying he had fallen asleep at the wheel.

A Polish diplomat, Andrzej Osiak, told a press conference that five of the injured were fighting for their lives. He said the coach was taking pilgrims back to Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had ordered a special flight to be sent to Budapest, with medical and consular aid for those affected.

Katarzyna Anna Kacperczyk, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health, told journalists ahead of the plane's departure Sunday evening that an anaesthesiologist, a surgeon, an orthopedist and three paramedics would be among those on board.

Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz added that an air transport base was instructed to prepare a CASA aircraft and a military Medical Evacuation Team "if the need arises".

Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek announced in a post on X that the prosecutor's office was "initiating immediate steps to fully clarify the causes and circumstances of this tragedy".

Eleven people were declared dead at the scene and another person died in hospital, the disaster agency said. The ambulance service said 37 people suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospitals in four cities. The highway was closed for several hours.

- Worst in 23 years -

The fire brigade and other rescuers had to drag some people out through the windows because they were trapped under the crushed roof of the bus.

Two cranes eventually lifted the bus out of the ditch, according to the disaster management agency.

It was the worst road accident in Hungary since a train hit a German tourist bus at Siofok in 2003, killing 33 people. In 2002, a bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashed near the western town of Balatonszentgyorgy, killing 19 people.

Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar offered his condolences as he gave the death toll on social media.

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called it a "tragic bus accident involving Polish tourists" in a post on X.

"The consular service is acting. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities," he added.

Polish Prime Minister Tusk said "all those affected will receive the necessary medical and consular assistance", as he announced the special flight on X. "We stand together in this difficult moment".