School bus and train in 'serious' accident in southern France

[Merseysider]

Sounds like a tragedy may have just happened.

French authorities say there has been a “serious rail accident” in southern France involving a school bus and a regional train.

Transport minister Élisabeth Borne described the incident as a “terrible accident” and said she was travelling immediately to the scene.

The Pyrenees-Orientales authority tweeted that the collision occurred on Thursday afternoon on a railway crossing at a small town some 15 kilometres (9 miles) west of Perpignan, close to the border with Spain.

“All emergency services have been mobilised and a crisis coordination unit set up,” an official at the local Millas town hall told Reuters.

More details to follow

BBC states that there have, sadly, been fatalities

A train and a school bus have collided near Perpignan in south France, leaving at least three dead, reports say.

Another nine people were reported to be injured on the bus, seven of them seriously in the incident between Millas and Saint-Feliu-d'Amont.

The students on the bus are reported to be between the ages of 11 and 15.

"All emergency services have been mobilised and a crisis co-ordination unit set up," a local official told Reuters.

Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne called the crash a "terrible accident" and said on Twitter that she was going to the scene, about 850km (530 miles) south of Paris.

 

[ooo]

Sounds like a very sad tragedy.
BBC is now reporting at least 4 dead.

Here's the local newspaper report : http://www.lindependant.fr/2017/12/14/millas-un-train-percute-un-bus-scolaire,3079683.php (In French)

 

[Lrd]

Appears to be a picture of the incident here:

https://twitter.com/NAH3L/status/941358840343400448

 

[61653 HTAFC]

For those interested, the route is Perpignan - Villefranche-de-Conflent.

Thoughts with the those hurt or killed, plus of course the emergency services and train crew.

 

[Strathclyder]

Appears to be a picture of the incident here:

https://twitter.com/NAH3L/status/941358840343400448

Utterly horrific. Bus looks to have been torn in half in the impact. My thoughts are with the families/friends of the victims, the train crew and the emergency services on the ground. So close to Christmas too.

 

[Chris M]

There is a longer article in the Guardian (quote below) which states that the death toll was 4 initially, with a 5th passenger dying of their injuries in hospital later. The article includes daylight pictures of the remains of the bus and of the front of the train.

The accident happened at an automatic barrier crossing, which witnesses have said was working. The bus driver survived but is in hospital with serious injuries and has not been able to be interviewed by police yet.

The death toll from a crash between a school bus and a train in southern France has risen to five after one passenger died of their injuries.

Four teenagers died on Thursday in the crash at a level crossing in Millas, near the city of Perpignan. Eighteen others were injured, several of whom remain in hospital in with life-threatening injuries.

Authorities in the Pyrenees-Orientales region had made a statement earlier on Friday saying six children had died, but later corrected it, saying the death toll was five.

An inquiry into “manslaughter and accidental injury” has been opened by the local prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni, who promised families of the victims that investigators would establish the exact cause of the collision.

The impact was so severe that it virtually ripped the bus in half and forced the train off the tracks.

[...]

The accident happened at an automatic crossing on a two-lane road as the bus crossed a single-track railway line secured by a simple striped barrier and warning lights in each direction.

A spokeswoman for France’s national rail company, SNCF, said the train was travelling at 50mph at the time of the accident, and had 25 people on board. Three of them were slightly injured.

“The railway crossing was a normal one, well equipped and lit up. Several witnesses have confirmed that the barriers were down, so they were working, but all this will be the subject of an inquiry,” she said.

[...]

Witnesses from the train told the local newspaper L’Indépendant they had felt a “very violent impact”.

“We thought the train was going to come off the rails and turn over,” one passenger named Barbara told the newspaper.