ZAGREB, Croatia — At least eight Czech tourists were killed and 44 injured when a bus crashed and overturned on a major highway in Croatia early Saturday, police said.

The accident happened around 4 a.m. about 125 miles south of Zagreb, on a highway connecting the Croatian capital with the central Adriatic coastal city of Split, according to a police statement.

Croatia’s state TV said the bus crashed through metal barriers in the middle of the highway, and overturned in the opposite lane near a tunnel.

State TV quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the bus started “swaying” moments before the crash.

State TV said a child was among the dead, and an eighth casualty was discovered in the wreckage.