At least 43 dead after bus and truck collide in France

Truck driver’s son (3) among the dead in Puisseguin crash in south of France

A child’s body has been discovered in the wreckage of a collision between a truck and bus in southwest France, bringing the death toll to 43.

The crash between the truck and the bus, which was carrying elderly passengers, caused a fire that has also seriously injured four others. The crash happened at about 7.30am near the village of Puisseguin, 60km east of Bordeaux

It was France’s deadliest road accident in more than 30 years.

Images on French television showed the collapsing, charred frame of the bus engulfed by smoke.

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Aerial views showed the mangled remains of both vehicles on a narrow, curving road surrounded by trees.

Eight people, including the driver, escaped after the driver quickly opened the bus door, but others were trapped as flames consumed the vehicles, Puisseguin mayor Xavier Sublett said on i-Tele television.

Among those killed was the truck driver’s three-year-old son who was travelling with his father and whose small body was discovered in the truck’s wreckage.

French media said the truck driver was among the dead.

The mayor told RTL radio the truck driver lost control of the vehicle. The bus driver “tried to avoid it, but the truck came and hit it,” Mr Sublett said.

Xavier Sublett, the mayor of Puisseguin, said the crash happened in a sharp bend of the road, several hundred feet from the town. “The bus was hit by a truck that was coming the opposite way and that missed a tight turn,” he said in a phone interview, adding that the road was “pretty and very picturesque” and not in poor condition.

Dr Philippe Flipot said he spoke to the bus driver afterwards.

“He found himself facing a jack-knifed truck, he couldn’t avoid it. He managed to open the doors and some passengers could get off the bus.

“Risking his life, because flames were licking him, he managed to evacuate some people,” Dr Flipot said.

The weather in the region was overcast on Friday morning but not rainy.

Prime minister Manuel Valls called the crash the deadliest road accident in France in more than 30 years, and a “terrible shock” for the country.

Police said the death toll was unusually high because both vehicles caught fire immediately. Scores of emergency workers rushed to the scene and helicopters evacuated severely burned victims.

The accident was devastating for the surrounding communities. The bus was carrying members of a senior citizens’ club from the town of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps on a day-long ham-tasting trip to Arzacq-Arraziguet, 190km away. The bus had travelled just a few minutes, about 6km, when the collision occurred.

Calling the crash an “immense tragedy,” French President Francois Hollande promised an investigation into what happened.

Mr Hollande, visiting Greece at the time, also expressed “the solidarity of the whole nation” with the victims’ loved ones.

He said the government was “totally mobilised” to help after what he called a “terrible accident”.

It was the worst road accident in France since 53 people, mostly children, died in a bus crash in Burgundy in July 1982, according to the independent road safety organisation Association Prevention Routiere.

Stricter road regulation and lower speed limits followed, and traffic deaths in France have fallen steeply since.

According to official statistics, more than 16,000 people were dying on the roads every year in the early 1970s. In recent years the annual death toll has dropped below 4,000.

Reuters