The crash took place Tuesday on the Autopista del Coral, near the exit for the city of Higuey. There were around 70 passengers on board, most of them Russian.

Video taken by passing motorists and sent to local media shows a bus flipped on its side across a highway, after reportedly colliding with a heavy truck.

The Russian embassy in Venezuela – which also serves the Dominican Republic and Haiti – has confirmed there were 39 Russian nationals on board the bus, citing its officials in Punta Cana.

Local newspaper Listin Diario reported that 17 Russians were injured in the incident, including seven whose injuries are serious. Another report says eight of the injured are children.

“There are no dead among our citizens, but there are several people with injuries of various severity,” the embassy officials told TASS. 

Another video from the scene shows bloodied passengers being helped by Dominican emergency service personnel. At least one helicopter was dispatched to evacuate the injured. 

The bus was taking tourists to the airport, but flipped over on the road after it was struck by a truck whose driver had reportedly fallen asleep.

About five million tourists visit the Dominican Republic every year. The Caribbean nation, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has seen a sharp increase in the number of visitors from Russia in the past several years – over 250,000 in 2017, overtaking France – driven by increased offerings from Russian tour operators.

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