Graduation celebrant found critically injured on E6 highway

A person believed to be a Norwegian russ—a high school graduate celebrating their final year—was discovered critically injured on the E6 highway in Stange early Saturday morning, Dagbladet reports, citing police sources. Authorities are seeking a trailer driver who may have witnessed the incident.

Emergency services were alerted at 2:36 AM after passersby found the injured individual on the road. The person, described as a russ celebrant, was initially taken to Hamar Hospital before being airlifted to Ullevål Hospital in Oslo in critical condition.

“So far, it appears most likely that the injured person fell from a moving russ bus,” operations manager Haagen Løvseth of the Innlandet police district told Dagbladet. A missing-person report filed shortly after 4:30 AM is believed to involve the same individual.

Police are investigating the incident and examining the russ bus in question. They have also called for witnesses, including a foreign trailer driver spotted near the scene around 2:30 AM. “We have no description of the trailer, but the driver may have relevant information,” said operations manager Ove Stian Ovrum.

The russ celebration is a Norwegian tradition where final-year high school students mark their graduation with parties, distinctive red or blue overalls, and bus processions.