Friday 19th March 2004

The Konginkangas bus disaster was a major traffic accident outside the Konginkangas housing estate in Äänekoski, Finland. At 02:08 local time (00:08 UTC) a bus transporting 38 passengers, most of them youths, to the Rukatunturi skiing center for an alpine skiing vacation crashed into a tractor trailer carrying heavy paper rolls weighing about 38 tonnes total. The accident occurred on highway 4 (E75) 20 km north of Äänekoski, and left the bus driver and 23 passengers dead; 15 were injured. The executive director of the youth travel company also died in the accident. Most of the victims were sleeping at the time and were immediately killed by the rolls of paper ejected into the bus. The tractor trailer driver was left unharmed.