Two children are believed to have died and 20 injured after a school bus plunged into a stream.
According to police, the bus crashed near Eisenach in central Germany at around 7.30am local time, and one child was trapped under the vehicle.
It's thought thick fog on the road at the time may have obstructed the driver's view.
The bus is believed to have slid off the road and down a slope into the water.
Police spokeswoman Alexandra Hoodt: "According to previous information, several children were seriously injured."
The district office of the Wartburg district confirmed that two children had died. 20 other boys and girls and the bus driver are injured.
Hoodt said five of the children had been seriously injured and 15 were slightly injured.
The children were being driven to a nearby primary school, according to Bild.
Minister Bodo Ramelow said: "The news of the tragic school bus accident reaches me with great dismay.
"There are two dead school children and I mourn with the parents and relatives. I wish the injured a speedy recovery and we want to assist the parents."
Emergency crews and crisis intervention teams are at the scene and all parents have been informed of the tragedy.
The Minister of Education Helmut Holter is understood to be visiting to come to the affected primary school and Interior Minister Georg Maier made his way to the scene of the accident.
