FRANCE MOURNS
4 teens, 1 child killed as train smashes into school bus
MILLAS (France)
THE authorities were investigating on Friday 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 from injuries on Friday.
Fifteen other children, aged between 11 and 17, were injured when the bus was torn into two and the train pulled off its rails in the country’s worst accident involving a school bus 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 checked whether a technical or human error was to blame.
State prosecutor Xavier Tarrabeaux said most witnesses interviewed by investigators said the barriers were closed at the time of crash, although some, including the bus driver, gave diverging accounts.
SNCF, the national rail operator, said the barriers had been “functioning normally”.
Most of the students were from the local Christian Bourquin junior high school, where pupils were in shock.
“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.
“I’m trying to be strong for them,” she said. AFP