Some victims of Spain's coach crash not wearing seat belts: reports

Some of the 13 fatalities of Spain's coach crash that occurred on Sunday in eastern Spain were not wearing a seat belt, local media reported on Wednesday.

The general director of NGO Traffic, Maria Segui, said the risk of dying in an accident decreases by 80 percent if passengers wear seat belts and added that some of the 13 dead students had flied out from the bus after the accident.

According to emergency services quoted by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, "none of the 13 students was held by a seat belt." Many other passengers, who were injured or uninjured, had to be released from the seat belts, the source said.

The Minister of Interior of the regional government of Catalonia Jordi Jane said on Monday that the bus had seat belts. From Oct. 20, 2007, the installation of seat belts in buses has been mandatory in Spain and Spanish law requires passengers to wear seat belts on buses when they have them.

According to the health department, the bus driver is in critical condition. Four patients are seriously injured and 14 are in less serious condition, resulting in a total of 19 people admitted to hospitals in Barcelona and the area near the accident.

The accident occurred on Sunday morning as students were returning from Fallas Festival in Valencia as part of a trip organized by the Erasmus Student Network. Enditem