GERMANY: Tourist Coach Rams Into Lorry,18 Feared Dead

Police say they fear a number of people may have died when a bus went up in flames after it crashed into a truck Monday morning in southern Germany, injuring 31 people and leaving 17 others unaccounted for.

"We're afraid that people may have died in the accident," police spokeswoman Irene Brandenstein said.

She said several people were severely injured in the crash near Muenchberg in Bavaria.

Local Oberfranken police tweeted that the travel group came from Saxony in eastern Germany and that a phone number had been activated to provide family members with information.

Police have said that 48 people were believed to be aboard the vehicle – understood to be a tour bus – adding: “The fate of the other passengers is currently the subject of police action on the ground.”

Pictures of the scene show the burnt out shell of the vehicle.

Two drivers and 46 people and were on the bus, Brandenstein said.

German news channel n-tv showed images of the bus which was burned down to a black, smoking skeleton.

A spokesman has told broadcaster n-tv that police expect there to be several fatalities, adding that there was only a “glimmer of hope” some may have escaped the inferno.

Several helicopters and ambulances were on the scene to rescue the injured and the A9 highway was closed in both directions because of the accident.

It is believed that the bus crashed into a truck at the end of a traffic jam as it travelled towards Nuremberg.

Police spokeswoman, Anne Hoefer, said the passengers were “old people” and that some may not have made it out of the bus.

Emergency services and helicopters were on the scene to rescue the injured from the A9 highway, which had been closed because of the accident.

Brandenstein said the bus crashed into the truck at the end of a traffic jam.

She had no information immediately about what happened to the truck driver.

She said she had no information about who was on the bus.

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GERMANY: easyJet Flight Diverted To Germany After Pilot Was Informed Of Suspicious Talk By Three Passengers

An easyJet flight to London has made an unscheduled stop in Germany after the pilot became concerned about a suspicious conversation on board.

Three male passengers have been arrested, Cologne police said in a statement.

The EasyJet flight made an unscheduled stop in Germany after the pilot became concerned about a suspicious conversation on board.

The plane coming from the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana landed at Cologne-Bonn airport at about 6.30pm on Saturday, after passengers reported that the men were talking about "terrorist matters", Cologne police said.

Airport authorities said in a statement that the 151 passengers on board disembarked the plane using emergency slides and were taken to a transit gate where they were checked by police.

Federal police seized a backpack that belonged to one of the men, and exploded it outside of the aircraft, police said. They gave no information on the contents of the backpack and said officials continued to investigate the backpack.

The men continued to be questioned late Saturday evening. Other passengers were also being questioned, police said.

Take-offs and landings were suspended for three hours, causing 10 flights to be diverted to other airports and delays to over a dozen more.

A spokesman for the German federal police said the pilot decided to land the aircraft in Cologne after passengers told airline personnel they had heard the men using words including "bomb" and "explosive".

An EasyJet spokesperson said the captain took the decision to divert the plane as a precaution so additional security checks could be carried out.

In compliance with the local authorities guidance passengers disembarked to allow additional security checks to be performed,the spokesperson said.

We plan to operate the flight tomorrow morning and so are providing all passengers with hotel accommodation and refreshments along with regular updates.

We thank passengers for their understanding. The safety of easyJet's passengers and crew is our highest priority.

No comment was immediately available from federal police.