16 dead, 40 injured in Italy bus crash, fire

At least 16 people have died and around 40 were injured when a bus carrying Hungarian students crashed and burst into flames on a highway in northern Italy earlier today. 

The bus went off the road near a highway exit during the night after colliding with a pylon, bursting into flames.

The head of the highway police in the city of Verona, Girolamo Lacquaniti, said the majority of the passengers had been teenage students. The other passengers were teachers and parents. Television images showed the bus on fire.

Around 40 casualties were rushed to hospital following the accident near Verona.

The bus crash comes at the tail end of a tragic week for Italy after an avalanche buried a hotel in the Rigopiano resort in Gran Sasso mountains.