43 killed in coach crash in France
Print Edition
AT least 43 people, most of them elderly, were killed yesterday when a coach collided with a lorry and caught fire in southwest France, in the country’s worst road accident for three decades.
The coach was carrying a club of elderly people on an excursion when it hit the lorry near the village of Puisseguin among the vineyards of the St Emilion region, east of Bordeaux.
Many of the victims were thought to have died in the blaze, according to emergency workers and local authorities in the department of Gironde.
The latest victim to be identified was a “small child” who had been sitting next to the driver of the lorry, a source in the regional prefecture said.
The source could not confirm reports that it was the driver’s son. The lorry driver also died, but the bus driver survived.
Images shown on French television showed the coach as a charred shell.
“The driver of the lorry appears to have lost control of his vehicle, leaving him stranded in the middle of the road. The bus driver was unable to avoid the accident,” said Puisseguin mayor Xavier Sublett.
Locals saw a plume of smoke from several kilometers away. Many said that part of the road was known to be particularly dangerous.
“I am astonished at the force of the crash. It will take a lot of time to recover all the bodies,” said a fireman at the scene.
Eight people, including the coach driver, managed to escape the burning wreckage. Four of the survivors were seriously injured, according to a local official.
“The bus driver was lightly injured. He had the presence of mind to open the doors to allow as many passengers as possible to leave the bus,” said Sublett.
The crash is the deadliest in France since August 1982, when 53 people including 44 children were killed in a motorway pile-up.
“The French government has fully mobilized after this terrible tragedy,” President Francois Hollande said from Athens, where he is on an official visit.
“We are plunged into sadness due to this drama.”
It has not been ruled out that Hollande might cut short his visit to Greece.
About 60 firemen and 20 fire engines were dispatched to the scene yesterday, supported by helicopters. A psychological crisis cell and information hotline were also set up.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Transport Minister Alain Vidalies were on their way to the site, according to the transport ministry.
“It’s a terrible shock for France,” said Valls.
The coach, carrying 48 passengers and the driver, departed early yesterday from Petit-Palais-Cornemps, a village of 650 residents near the scene of the accident.
Pierre Henri-Brandet, spokesman for the interior ministry, told BFMTV that four people “were extremely severely injured” — two with burns and two with head injuries.
Henri-Brandet said the accident happened just a few minutes after the bus had set off.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
