An Australian woman who was involved in a bus crash in Italy which reportedly claimed one life, says the company that owned the vehicle offered passengers a meal voucher "for the inconvenience".
Sydney woman Sinead Curry was travelling on a FlixBus journey across Italy in the early hours of Sunday morning local time when the bus crashed and went off the road.
She said after the bus had gone on its side, some cars then crashed into it as passengers sheltered.
The incident happened near the town of Avellino, approximately 50 kilometres east of the south-west city of Naples.
The regional fire and rescue department — Vigili del Fuoco — on Twitter said five cars and a bus were involved in the incident.
They said the "lifeless body of a man was found". Local media also reported one fatality.
Ms Curry told ABC News most passengers were asleep when the bus swerved to avoid another car, triggering the accident.
"It rolled around a bunch of times, it then landed and all the windows on one side smashed," she said.
"We crawled under the broken window, in the mud to get out.
"We were sheltering behind the bus, and then the cars started to hit the bus. We had to wait at least half an hour for anyone to come. Everyone was screaming in their native language."
Ms Curry, who was travelling with her partner, said the only other person on the bus who spoke English was a fellow Australian who had a suspected broken collar bone.
After being taken to hospital and then discharged, Ms Curry said she tried to contact FlixBus to know what the next steps were for her and her partner.
But she said the company provided little information about the incident, how they could retrieve their luggage, or what reimbursements they would be eligible for.
"To make it worse, there really wasn't much support from the company," she said.
Ms Curry said FlixBus initially offer a meal voucher worth 10 euros ($16) "for the inconvenience", and she had to beg the company to allow them to try and retrieve some of their luggage, which she said finally happened nine hours after the crash.
"When someone from FlixBus turned up, he was happy-go-lucky, making jokes," she said.
"All of us are scared for life.
"We had no food, no water, no support until the local fire service took us in.
"Those who survived need to be offered adequate financial compensation for this near-fatal, permanently harmful traumatic event."
ABC News sought comment from FlixBus Italy about the crash and what compensation was being offered to passengers.
"FlixBus is maintaining close contact to all authorities on site and closely cooperating with them to investigate the causes of the event," a spokeswoman said in a statement.
"FlixBus has provided a support line and email for passengers and their families. Outbound calls were made to passengers who had registered their mobile numbers, and emails were sent to passengers with instructions.
"At all times, the safety of its passengers and drivers is of highest priority to FlixBus."
The spokeswoman said two passengers and the bus driver sustained serious injuries in the crash.
Ms Curry said the only communication she had received from FlixBus was a series of text messages, one containing the meal voucher and another providing a telephone helpline.
She said the only email she had received from the company was to alert her that the helpline number was suffering technical difficulties.
