Children killed as train hits bus

FRANCE: Four children died and seven others were seriously injured yesterday when a train sliced a school bus in two at a level crossing in southwestern France.

A total of 21 people were injured, including several on the train.

France Bleu, a regional radio station, reported that the bus, carrying about 30 children at the end of the school day, was struck from behind by the train after entering the crossing despite a lowered safety barrier.

The bus was cut in two, witnesses said. The train was derailed.

The injured children ranged in age from 8 to 15. Seven believed to be in a serious condition were flown to local hospitals.

All attended school in Millas in the Pyrenees-Orientales departement, and were being driven home to the villages of Saint-Feliud’Amont and Saint-Feliu-d’Avall.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe flew to the site of the crash, and President Emmanuel Macron tweeted his thoughts for the victims and their families and pledged ‘‘total mobilisation of the state to help them’’.

Collisions between trains and vehicles on level crossings have been an all-too-common feature of French life for more than a century. Efforts by the state to improve safety have reduced the death toll in recent years, but drivers continue to dodge around the automatic barriers.

In the most recent fatal accident, on November 2, a couple from Alsace and their teenage son were killed in Normandy at a small rural level crossing that had no barrier or warning bells.

– The Times