Five people were killed and 40 others injured when a coach carrying Dutch tourists in eastern Switzerland crashed this week, police said on Friday.

The accident happened at 4:45 pm (1445 GMT) Thursday between the communes of Susch and Zernez in the far-eastern canton of Graubunden.

The coach “veered off the road in a construction zone and overturned”, Graubunden police said in a statement, adding that “of the 45 adults on board, five died”.

Three people had also been seriously hurt, while 37 others had suffered moderate or minor injuries, police said, adding that an investigation had been opened into the circumstances that led to the accident.

Police confirmed to AFP Friday that the coach driver, a Dutch national, had survived the accident and was among those injured.

The Dutch Federation of Travel Agencies (ANVR) told AFP that the coach belonged to the tour company Oad, and that all of the passengers were from the Netherlands.

According to the ANVR, the coach left the Netherlands on Monday and was on a day trip to Switzerland from Austria when the crash happened.

Oad said in a statement it was “deeply shocked and devastated by the tragic accident”.

Zernez is the entry point for visitors to the Swiss national park, a vast Alpine reserve stretching more than 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) across the mountainous Engadine valley.

AFP