Coach crash kills several people in Swiss Alps

A tourist coach has crashed in the south-eastern Swiss Alps, leaving several people dead and several injured, local police say.

The bus overturned between Susch and Zernez in the Graubünden – also known as Grisons – region late on Thursday afternoon.

A large team of rescuers equipped with several helicopters was deployed to the scene.

Some 48 Dutch passengers were on board the bus, according to a spokeswoman for the General Dutch Association of Travel Companies on behalf of tour operator OAD.

The spokesperson told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf they could not yet say how many people had been killed or injured.

Images on Swiss news sites show a coach lying on its side beside a narrow country road on which stand numerous ambulances while groups of rescuers work at the scene.

The coach reportedly left the Netherlands on Monday and was on a day trip to Switzerland from Austria when the crash happened.

Zernez is the entry point for visitors to the Swiss National Park, a vast Alpine reserve stretching more than 100 sq km (40 sq miles) across the mountainous Engadine valley.