A Spanish man and a Polish woman were in critical condition yesterday evening after they were involved in an accident between a car and a bus.

Four people were initially critically injured in the head-on crash between a Toyota Yaris and an empty route bus in Swieqi yesterday morning.

The accident happened at 5.30am just past the junction at the bend to Paceville on the way to Pembroke.

Four of the car’s passengers were trapped

The car strayed into the wrong lane and crashed head-on onto the oncoming bus. The impact of the crash was such that the car was thrown back across the centre strip into the other lane.

The Yaris was being driven by a 24-year-old woman from Qormi while the bus was driven by a 68-year-old man from Msida.

Four of the car’s passengers were trapped and had to be helped by rescuers. Both drivers and four foreign passengers in the Toyota were taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment. The police later said the medical condition of a Maltese woman and a Slovenian woman, 19, had improved.