A bus carrying a female handball team from Lisbon to Porto this morning has crashed, injuring 23 – one of them seriously.
Details of the accident which at lunchtime today still saw traffic flow severely hampered in both directions at the section near Aveiras are slowly emerging.
Two other cars appear to have been involved – both of which suffered damage to the front of the vehicles, and whose drivers are almost certain to be among the injured.
As for the bus, it crashed through the central reservation and is as we write still lying upturned, across the motorway.
According to reports, a number of young players have been injured, but their trainer is the one that is most seriously hurt.
The team is the Passos Manuel senior team, due to have played this evening against Académica, in Porto.
Scores of emergency vehicles are still at the scene, though most of the victims have already been transported to hospitals in Santarém and Vila Franca de Xira.
Updates to follow.
