- Title: FRANCE-CRASH/FAMILIES Relatives of French bus crash victims gather for memorial
- Date: 23rd October 2015
- Summary: PUISSEGUIN, FRANCE (OCTOBER 23, 2015) (REUTERS) POLICE TRUCKS ARRIVING AT CRISIS CENTRE POLICE AND FAMILIES STANDING OUTSIDE CRISIS CENTRE POLICE ON MOTORBIKES ARRIVING AT CRISIS CENTRE POLICE TALKING RESCUE WORKERS AND POLICE OUTSIDE CRISIS CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (French) COMMANDER OF THE GIRONDE GENDARMERIE, GHISLAIN RETY, SAYING: "In the very few seconds following the impac
- Embargoed: 7th November 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAAB4HC4JYM9KQAYFUT7LBBHMU7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Families of the 43 victims of a bus crash in western France arrived at a local school in Puisseguin, in the Bordeaux region, on Friday (October 23) for a memorial service.
At least 41 people on a bus carrying elderly day-trippers were killed early on Friday when the bus hit a truck head-on and caught fire, in France's worst road crash in more than 30 years.
Two people, the truck driver and his three year-old son, died in the truck. A total of eight people were injured.
The bus and the truck collided near a forested bend on a two-lane road cut into a hillside near Puisseguin in the Gironde region, about 60 km (35 miles) east of Bordeaux, the local prefect's office said in a statement.
Reuters witnesses saw two blackened vehicles, with the bus facing the wood-transporter's trailer, the truck's cab skewed to one side, and scorched vegetation around the site, which was sealed off by police.
Ghislain Rety, commander of the gendarmerie in Gironde, the region where the accident took place, said the driver of the bus was among the survivors, as he was able to exit through the front door he had opened.
"In the very few seconds following the impact it all caught fire, the bus driver managed to open the doors and help a few people out. But because of the violence of the collision and how quickly the fire spread, unfortunately 41 people were killed on the bus," Rety said.
He added that a key witness, who was also driving on the country road, also helped save some of the passengers by breaking some of the windows on the bus.
"I point out that there was a driver in a car just behind who was a witness -- he was a crucial witness for the investigation -- who acted very positively. He had the time to find an emergency window hammer, to smash the windows and take a few people out before everything went up in flames," Rety said.
It is the deadliest road accident in France since 53 people, mostly children, died in a bus crash in Burgundy in July 1982, according to the French independent road safety organisation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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