A tourist coach carrying nearly 50 Dutch passengers has crashed in the Swiss Alps, killing several people and injuring others, in an accident that prompted a large-scale overnight rescue operation. The bus overturned on Thursday afternoon on a road between the villages of Susch and Zernez in the canton of Graubünden — also known as Grisons — in southeastern Switzerland. Emergency services, including multiple helicopters, worked through the night at the scene.

The coach was operated by Hartemink, a bus company from Eibergen, a town in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland, and was travelling on behalf of Dutch tour operator OAD. The group of 48 passengers and one driver had departed the Netherlands on Monday, heading initially to Austria, and were on a day trip into Switzerland when the crash occurred. Swiss cantonal police said the bus appears to have struck a crash barrier, left the road, and rolled onto its side. The accident took place in a construction zone where lanes had been narrowed, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the driver swerved to avoid a rock or debris on the road.

The exact death toll remained unclear more than twelve hours after the crash, with police saying priority was being given to notifying the families of victims before releasing figures. The wrecked bus was lifted and the road — the Engadine route linking Susch and Zernez, which serves as the gateway to the Swiss National Park — was reopened to traffic in the early hours of Friday morning. A hotline was set up for relatives and consulates.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said he was "deeply shocked" by the incident and offered his condolences to the victims' families, pledging a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash. OAD said it was "devastated" by the tragedy and was working to inform and support the affected passengers and their families as quickly as possible.

The accident is among the deadliest road incidents involving Dutch tourists in recent memory and is likely to prompt scrutiny of road safety conditions at Alpine construction sites, particularly on narrow mountain routes frequented by heavy tourist coaches during the summer travel season.