The accident took place at Golmayo near Soria in northern Spain, on the N-122 highway linking Zaragoza with the Portuguese border. The self-employed driver had hired the bus used to transport the children from Autocares Granados. He had organised similar trips for the schools in previous years. It has so far proved difficult to make a positive identification of the lorry driver, but he was believed to be a Polish national. The reason why the lorry veered into the path of the bus had not yet been established.
Spanish roads are infamous for their high number of fatal traffic accidents.
Last weekend 51 people died and 72 were injured in heavy traffic, as many left for their holiday at the end of the school year. Fatalities for 1998 number 151 dead per million inhabitants. By comparison, the average for the European Union as a whole is 114. Sweden and Britain are 60 and 61 respectively. The highest numbers of casualties in Spain involve coaches and buses.