German pastor praises Madeira medics after deadly bus crash

In this image from video, emergency services attend the scene after a tour bus crashed at Canico, on Portugal's Madeira Island, Wednesday April 17, 2019. Some 28 people are reported to have died in the crash, most of them German tourists, local mayor Filipe Sousa told TV news. (TVI via AP)

In this image from video, emergency services attend to injured at the scene after a tour bus crashed at Canico, on Portugal's Madeira Island, Wednesday April 17, 2019. Some 28 people are reported to have died in the crash, most of them German tourists, local mayor Filipe Sousa told TV news. (TVI via AP)

LISBON, Portugal – A German pastor working on Madeira is praising the medics who cared for the survivors of the bus crash on the Portuguese island that killed 29 people.

Ilse Everlien Berardo told German broadcaster n-tv Thursday the survivors she spoke to were "very calm. Of course, they were in a state of shock."

The bus carrying 55 people, many of them vacationers from Germany, rolled down a steep hillside Wednesday after veering off the road on a bend east of the capital, Funchal, striking at least one house.

Berardo said the "the nurses and doctors were really touching in the way they dealt with the people."

Berardo said she spoke to one woman who thought she might have lost her partner, adding. "what I can do is hold their hand and show them they're not alone."