Nine people have been killed and 40 others injured in a crash involving several buses on a highway in eastern Germany, police said today.

Police spokesman Lutz Zoellner said the accident happened near the city of Dresden at about 2am local time and involved a Polish bus, a Ukrainian bus and a Polish minibus.

He was unable to immediately provide details about the victims but German public broadcaster MDR reported that seven of those killed were travelling in the minibus.

Citing a preliminary police report, MDR said the Polish bus hit the rear of the Ukrainian bus and then broke through the central barrier, crashing into the oncoming minibus.

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