At least 40 killed as bus collides with truck in southwest France

[Duque de Bragança]

At least 42 people, most of them elderly, were killed after a bus and a truck collided on a road near Bordeaux in southwestern France and caught fire, local officials said Friday.

The two vehicles collided head-on near the village of Puisseguin north of Bordeaux, in what is the deadliest road accident in France for more than 30 years.

At least one of the drivers was killed, while the rest of the victims were passengers on the coach, local authorities in the prefecture of Gironde said.

The driver of the bus managed to open the door, allowing some to escape, said Puisseguin's Mayor Xavier Sublett on France's i-Tele TV station.

The mayor said later on RTL radio that the truck driver had lost control of the vehicle. The bus driver "tried to avoid it, but the truck came and hit it, and he couldn't do anything except activate the mechanism to open the doors to allow some people to get out", Sublett said.



Five passengers managed to escape from the coach, which had caught fire. Three others were unharmed, local authorities said.

Scores of emergency workers in the region were sent to the scene of the crash to help.

'Cloud of smoke'

Images shown on French television showed the coach as a charred shell that had been entirely burned.

"I saw a cloud of smoke," local resident Yvette Seguy told i-Tele, adding that it took place in the countryside on a bend that is known to be dangerous.

"The French government has fully mobilised after this terrible tragedy," French President François Hollande said from Athens, where he is on an official visit, adding that he was "plunged into sadness by this tragic event".

The coach, which was carrying 49 passengers and a driver, had departed early Friday from the village of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps near the site of the accident to take its elderly passengers out on an excursion.


A local resident said the accident took place on a turn well known in the area as a dangerous stretch of road.

"It is very dangerous," a man named Stéphane, who lives 500m from the scene of the tragedy, told BFMTV. "On one side there is a vine-covered ravine, on the other, the turn is at a right angle so you can't see the exit or what's coming toward you."

A French interior ministry spokesperson said that all the victims appeared to be French nationals.

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 had not been ruled out that Hollande might cut short his visit to Greece to visit the crash site.

Valls expressed his condolences to the victims' families in a tweet.

"Emotion in the face of this very heavy toll. Compassion and support to the families of the victims," he said.


"France is devastated," tweeted the mayor of Bordeaux and former prime minister Alain Juppé.

'Incredible tragedy'

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.

"It's an incredible tragedy with an extremely heavy toll. It's a catastrophe," he said.

"They were retired people, elderly people, who were going on a day out," he added.

Henri-Brandet added that the accident happened just a few minutes after the bus left from the village of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps.

The group were part of a club for retired people and were heading south to the nearby region of Landes for a visit.

A statement from the French presidency said the lorry was carrying wood.

Pierre Dartout, the top government official for the Aquitaine region, said the circumstances of the crash remained unclear, however.

Speaking to reporters near the crash site, he said a preliminary investigation had been opened by authorities.

The crash is the deadliest on French roads since a bus accident in Beaune in eastern France in 1982 claimed the lives of 53 people, most of them children.

http://www.france24.com/en/20151023-france-bus-dozens-killed-southwest-puisseguin

I did not recall such a deadly accident indeed, I thought they were something of the past This area (Aquitaine SW France) used to have lots of accidents with the National 10 (Paris to Spain through Bordeaux to Hendaye/a) as a dual carriage-way without motorway-style crossings but this seems to have been corrected, unlike the dangerous turn mentioned in the article, and the accident did not happen there since it's by Libourne. I only go through Libourne by train, the A10 to Spain does not go through there, though the new TGV line will as well.

[garbon]

One of the research analysts at my job just brought this up. So awful.

[The Brain]

[Razgovory]

I can't think of anything good or productive to say, so I'll just use the sad face.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, Languish behaved, good but not so unexpected after all, but some French politico did not, and started a shameless political recuperation. Some Green MP, former TV anchorman blamed the disaster on the liberalisation of coach services by a goverment state secretary (under the rank of minister- who used to work at Rotschild Bank. While I dislike this perfect embodiment of Champagne left (Macron), I believe this is really not the time at all for Mamère, the Green MP who started this polemic. 
Context, previously, to help the SNCF (trains), there were no coaches services allowed between French cities. Yes, that's French dirigisme for you, but trains have been in general faster (TGV land after all even classic trains go up to 220 kph sometimes here) and better than coaches to serve the needs of a middle-sized country such as France (550,000 sq. km).

Mamère did not mention coaches run on diesel/gas-oil though. Diesel is the latest foe of the Greens in France. It's also the preferred choice for those who drive a lot and need cheaper fuel for their car. Typical bobo crusade against the proles if you will.