The coach to Rīga had departed from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad – also known by its old German name of Königsberg and the Latvian name Karaļauči – but overturned, injuring 26 people, some of them seriously, reported LRT, citing confirmation from Lithuanian police.
"At 5:52 a.m., a report was received that a passenger bus left the road and overturned in Šakiai district, in the village of Žygėnai," Ęintare Navickaite, chief representative of the Marijampole District Police Commissariat, told LRT.
The bus was on its way from the Russian-exclave to Riga via Lithuania, and at the time of the accident, there were 47 people on the bus, including the driver, mainly citizens of Latvia and Russia. The driver is understood to be a Latvian citizen.
"According to preliminary data, the driver lost control of the bus," the police spokeswoman said. "Currently, 26 traffic accident victims have been taken to the hospital," she said. "Four people are seriously injured, the rest have minor injuries."
A pre-trial investigation has been launched into the incident.
Solvita Martinsone, head of the Communication Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, said that there were 19 Latvian citizens on the coach, one of whom was taken to the hospital. The ministry has not yet received information about other victims.
The bus was operated by the Ecolines company. While there is currently a wide-ranging ban on private cars entering Latvia from Russia, some public transport connections continue to operate, and in any case this particular service to and from part of Russia operates via the territory of fellow European Union member state Lithuania.
Ecolines also offers routes to Moscow, St Petersburg and Pskov in Russia from Rīga.
The official advice of both the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian security services remains not to visit aggressor states Russia and Belarus at all. However, some still do.
A decision by the State Language Center (VVC), which monitors official use of the Latvian language, on May 15 2023 said it recommended using the traditional Baltic name 'Karaļauči' or the German-derived 'Kēnigsberga' in Latvian instead of 'Kaļiņingrada' when referring to the Russian exclave.
