A bus carrying Serbian plates overturned on Croatia's A3 motorway early on Sunday, killing two people and injuring 33 others in one of the country's more serious road accidents in recent months.

The crash happened around 7:25 am on the carriageway heading towards Zagreb, shortly after the Ivanić-Grad junction, east of the capital. The vehicle left the road and came to rest on its side. There were 35 people on board — 33 passengers and both drivers, who were also among the injured.

Croatia's Ministry of Health said six people were seriously hurt and 27 sustained lighter injuries. Nine emergency medical teams responded, including an air ambulance crew; a helicopter flew a seriously injured 20-year-old woman to Dubrava Hospital in Zagreb. Casualties were split across several city hospitals, including Zagreb University Hospital Centre, Sestre milosrdnice, the Traumatology Clinic and Merkur, with some patients arriving under police escort. Firefighters and police worked the scene, and intervention teams also prevented a fire breaking out after the crash.

Traffic on that stretch of the A3 was restricted while police investigated, with vehicles funnelled through a single lane. The cause has not been officially established, and authorities are still looking into how the bus left the road.

The A3 matters to anyone driving in the region: it's the main artery linking the Serbian border with Zagreb and continuing towards Slovenia, so it carries heavy international passenger and freight traffic — including plenty of long-distance buses. Cross-border bus services between Serbia and Western Europe via Croatia are common, particularly in summer.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is straightforward. If you're bussing or driving between Belgrade and Zagreb or onwards to Slovenia, expect this corridor to be busy and check traffic updates before setting out, since crashes on the A3 can close or restrict lanes for hours. Croatia's motorway network is generally in good condition and well-signposted, but long overnight or early-morning coach legs carry fatigue risk, and seatbelts — where fitted on buses — are worth using. Anyone planning to drive the route themselves should note that Croatian tolls apply on major motorways, and that police respond quickly to incidents on this corridor given its importance as an international route.

Investigations into Sunday's crash are ongoing; Croatian Week is the original source.