Updated 7.45pm - Number of passengers still in hospital reduced to seven.

The driver involved in Monday's devastating open-top double-decker bus incident which left two people dead is being released from hospital under arrest, Times of Malta has learnt. 

The 24-year-old bus driver was reportedly working his first shift since returning to the job he first did last summer when he crashed into a tree in Żurrieq.

"He is devastated," a source said, adding that the hospital scene after the incident was tantamount to "a war zone".

Seven of the 50 people injured in the tourist bus crash in Żurrieq remain in hospital, with four kept at Mater Dei Hospital's intensive treatment unit. 

Three of the patients still hospitalised are children, Health Minister Chris Fearne told Times of Malta, with two children in intensive care and another at the hospital's Fairyland unit. 

Two people were killed on the spot and 50 others injured when a tourist bus double-decker struck a tree in Żurrieq on Monday afternoon, prompting Mater Dei Hospital to institute emergency procedures. 

READ: What prompted the double-decker tourist bus to hit a tree?

Initial reports suggested that the bus struck low-lying tree branches, though photos of the tree in question seem to suggest that bus struck one of the tree's main boughs.    

In a statement, the Tourism Ministry said that it had set up a support unit for relatives of the accident victims, "to provide all the required support in these difficult moments." 

The support unit can be contacted via the helpline number 00356 22915405 or on supportunit@visitmalta.com.

Damage to the tree's bough can be seen in this photo taken on Tuesday morning. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Hop-on, hop-off

City Sightseeing Malta buses run circuit routes of Malta's most popular attractions, with passengers - generally tourists - able to hop on and off at various stops at will. 

It is an franchisee of City Sightseeing international, which dubs itself the world's largest open-top, double-decker sightseeing tour bus operator, with operations in 130 cities worldwide. 

In a statement issued in the early hours of the morning, the mother company said it was communicating with its Maltese franchise holder to establish the full facts of the situation, and declined to comment further. 

A spokesman for the Maltese franchise holder declined to comment when contacted on Monday evening, but the incident does not seem to have dented the firm's business: when Times of Malta called the company on Tuesday morning, a customer service representative said it was business as usual and buses were running according to their schedules. 

Emergency services at the crash scene. Photo: Jonathan Borg