France stunned by deadly school bus crash

Paris : French authorities were investigating yesterday how a train was able to smash into a school bus, killing five children and ripping their vehicle in half in an accident that has devastated the local community.

Four teenagers died on Thursday in the collision at a level crossing in the village of Millas near the southern city of Perpignan, and local authorities said a fifth child died of their injuries Friday.

Fifteen other children, all aged between 11 and 17, were injured when the bus was torn in two and the train pulled off its rails in France’s worst accident involving a school bus in France for three decades.

The bus driver and three train passengers were also hurt.

“The families of those caught up in the accident are going through something absolutely terrible,” said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited Millas on Thursday.

The accident site was sealed off as police examined whether a technical or human error was to blame.

It has not been confirmed whether the automatic barriers were open at the time of the crash, though national rail operator SNCF said the crossing was “functioning normally”, citing witnesses.

Most of the students were from the local Christian Bourquin junior high school, where pupils were in shock as they headed in on Friday.

“I went to sleep at two or three in the morning. I was watching the news, I wasn’t able to sleep,” said teenager Lorena Garcies, dressed in black.

Her cousin and another friend were on the bus, but escaped with broken bones and trauma.

“I’m trying to be strong for them,” she said.

The injured bus driver, a 48-year-old woman, has not yet been questioned, but Perpignan prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni said investigators had spoken to the train driver.

“There was good visibility,” said regional chief Carole Delga.

“This level crossing wasn’t really dangerous and no technical problems had been raised,” she told Europe 1 radio.

She nonetheless pledged to modernise dangerous crossings, as a debate broke out about whether enough has been done to secure some 15,000 similar level crossings in France.