BERLIN (AFP) - Four people died and more than 40 were injured on Tuesday when a coach carrying senior citizens careered through a crash barrier and tumbled down an embankment, police said.

The bus, which departed from the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, was travelling on a motorway in western Hesse state at the time of the accident.

A police spokesman said initial reports indicated a car driver lost control of his vehicle and skidded into the coach, which ran off the roadway at about 09.30 GMT (5.30pm Singapore time) and flipped over before landing on its wheels again around 50m down the embankment.

Five rescue helicopters were dispatched to the site of the crash and the motorway was closed to traffic.

No information was immediately available on the victims.