Bus n Car Collision 13 Student Confirmed Dead

At least thirty people were severely hurt when the coach carrying foreign students collided with a car and overturned on the AP-7 highway near Freginals, about 50 miles (80km) from Tarragona, on Sunday morning.

Some British students are believed to be among those injured when the coach collided with a car and overturned on a highway killing thirteen people in north-eastern Spain - and British students are feared to be among the injured.

All those killed were women, according to local officials.

The injured, aged between 22 and 29, were from Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Ukraine and Barcelona, local media said.

The students were part of the European Union student exchange programme Erasmus.

Of those injured, three are in a critical condition, nine in a serious condition and 22 in a less serious condition, according to a Catalan government website.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said two Irish students were among the injured in the crash.

Two of those hurt were travelling in the car.

The coach, carrying 57 people including the driver, was returning from the renowned Fallas fireworks festival in Valencia when it crashed.

The driver is being held at a police station in the city of Tortosa.

Spanish interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said the driver has passed alcohol and drug tests.

An investigation is looking into the cause of the crash, which happened around halfway between Valencia and Barcelona.

Catalonia's interior minister Jordi Jane said the coach driver "hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered on to the other side of the highway".

The bus then hit a car coming in the opposite direction, he said.

He said most of the passengers were studying at two universities in Barcelona.

The Catalan government said work is under way to identify those who have lost their lives.