29 German tourists were killed in a bus crash in Portuguese island of Madeira on Wednesday.

The bus was carrying 55 people when it rolled down a steep hillside after veering off the road and crashing into a house at the bottom of a slope, according to the reports.  

A battered white bus on its side surrounded by firefighters could be seen in photos published by Portuguese media, while SIC Television said there were 19 ambulances at the scene following the accident, which occurred around 5.30pm GMT.

Filipe Sousa, the mayor of Caniço – a coastal town in the south of the island, which lies about 600 miles south-west of mainland Portugal – told SIC: “I have no words to describe what happened. I cannot face the suffering of these people.” Sousa added that the victims included 17 women and 11 men.

A spokeswoman for the hospital told German newspaper Bild: “We currently have our hands full. We have many injured people from the bus accident here. The ambulances drove them from Santa Cruz to us. Many are very badly injured.”

The investigation of the incident is currently underway.