Health Minister Rajko Ostojic said on Saturday he had visited at the Zagreb University Hospital two 14-year-old Czech girls injured in a bus crash on the Zagreb-Split motorway in the Zadar hinterland this morning.
Eight passengers died and over 40 were injured when the Czech bus crashed into a safety fence and turned over into the opposite lane.
One of the two girls has been unconscious all the time and is in surgery, while her sister is stable and awaiting surgery, Ostojic said, adding that he had also talked to a 60-year old Czech woman who has many fractures but is not in life danger.
He said the leading surgeons and doctors were present at the surgery because "the situation is very delicate." The girl has many fractures as well as trauma to the head, ribcage and stomach. Her sister has a leg fracture.
Ostojic said he had talked with all the surviving passengers at the hospital in Gospic, near the crash site, earlier today, because the Czech consul was with them, and that they were afraid and worried about their families.
"I immediately formed a Health Ministry emergency team and we are offering counselling, notably regarding a possible return (home)."
The Czech bus was en route to the Basko Polje campsite near Makarska for the summer holidays.
Ostojic said all patients had been hospitalised either in Gospic or in Zagreb, and that 26 were likely to be released tomorrow.
Asked by the press if he had visited Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem, who is recovering after surgery at the Zagreb University Hospital, Ostojic said that he had and that he was well.
