Lech, Donald, what do you plan to do about Poland's deadly roads?

Associated Press:

WARSAW, Poland Sep 30, 2005 — A bus carrying high school students on a pilgrimage to Poland's most sacred Roman Catholic shrine collided with a truck and burst into flames on Friday, killing at least 11 people, authorities said.

The bus was carrying 12th grade students from the northeastern city of Bialystok to Czestochowa in southern Poland, the home of the renowned Jasna Gora shrine, said Zlotka Korzeniewska, the school principal, in a telephone interview.

About 60 people were on board when the bus hit a truck from Warsaw head-on, 20 miles into their trip, said Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesman for Bialystok police. The force of the impact spun the bus around and caused it to catch fire, Dobrzynski said.

It was not immediately clear how many of those killed were teenagers, but Korzeniewska said most of the people on the bus were students. In addition to the 11 killed, Dobrzynski said more than 20 passengers were hospitalized.

The death toll is now 13

WARSAW, Poland (CNN) -- World and Olympic swimming champion Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland has been seriously injured in a car crash in which her younger brother was killed, the Polish PAP newsagency has reported.

The 200-meter butterfly champion, who also holds the world record over the distance, was taken to Vojvod hospital in Plock in central Poland.

She was initially said to be in a critical condition, but doctors at the hospital later announced her injuries were not life-threatening.

"Otylia is conscious and can speak," a hospital spokesman said, adding the swimmer was under shock.

She was undergoing neurological and orthopaedic examinations, he said.

The 21-year-old would have to remain hospitalized for a number of days but she would "most certainly" be able to continue with active sports, he said.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Witnesses reported that her car went out of control, crossing the road before crashing into a tree.

She won gold in the 200m butterfly at the 2004 Athens Olympics and also won silver in the 100m butterfly and the 400m freestyle races.

She defended her 200m-butterfly world championship title in Montreal in July this year, and holds the world record with 2:05.61 minutes in this discipline.