Two Killed, Including 7-Year-Old, in France School Bus Crash After Driver Dozes Off

LENT, France — A seven-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man were killed Friday in eastern France when a bus carrying schoolchildren crashed after its driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said three people were in critical condition and about 20 others suffered less serious injuries in the morning accident near the village of Lent.

The 26-year-old driver, currently in police custody, told investigators he must have “dozed off,” according to prosecutor Karine Malara.

“When he woke up, he was on the opposite side of the road,” Malara said. “He struck several trees lining the roadside before the bus came to rest in a ravine.”

The bus was en route from Lyon to Bourg-en-Bresse with 43 passengers aboard, including 15 minors traveling to school, prosecutors said.

Local newspaper La Voix de l’Ain published photographs of the white-and-blue bus in a ditch, its front end severely damaged.

A 17-year-old survivor described the interior as strewn with shattered glass and blood, with tree branches protruding through the cabin and broken phones scattered across the floor.

Shortly after passing through Lent, “the driver made a very sharp turn of the wheel,” the student told reporters. The bus had been traveling in the right-hand lane before veering into the left-hand lane, she said. “Then we went straight into a ditch.”

“All the windows burst open,” she added. “Everyone got out through the windows or through the middle of the bus, which had split open.”

The teenager said she and others attempted to help as many people as possible.

Authorities have opened an investigation into vehicular homicide.

The driver, who had to be extricated from the wreckage, underwent drug screening. “The initial results appear to be negative,” Tabarot said. He is hospitalized with leg injuries, prosecutors noted.

Jean-François Debat, mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse, described the roadway as “well maintained.”

A victim support organization said many people were “in shock” and were receiving care at the town hall, where a psychological support unit had been established.

Serious accidents involving public transport are relatively uncommon in France.

The deadliest road disaster in French history occurred in August 1982, when a motorway pile-up ignited several vehicles, including a coach transporting children to a summer camp. That tragedy claimed 53 lives, including 46 children.

Source link