29 injured including 10 Britons after bus overturns in France
Passengers travelling from Paris to London, including 10 Britons, have been injured after their bus overturned in northern France.
The coach, operated by a regional partner for the German transport firm FlixBus, tipped over in the wet weather and left the road after taking an exit from the A1 motorway, one of France’s busiest.
Of the 32 people onboard, five were seriously hurt while a further 24 suffered minor injuries, with those requiring medical treatment taken to different hospitals in the region.
Pictures from the scene appeared to show the overturned bus lying by the side of the road, with a broken windscreen and a large hole in its side.
Two 20-year-olds from Northern Ireland, Jamie Kerr and Gemma Given, were treated for head and hand injuries.
John Kerr, Jamie Kerr’s father, told the BBC the accident made for “a pretty traumatic end to a Halloween weekend”.
He added the pair had been offered a bus back to the UK by the company but that they had decided to make their own way home.
“I feel a bit more could have been done for them,” he said. “I’m expecting an emotional response when they get home.”
Local paper Courrier Picard reported that FlixBus had provided a replacement bus service to retrieve passengers, returning them to Paris on a “case by case” basis.
The accident took place just outside the village of Ablaincourt-Pressoir in the Somme region at approximately noon local time.
The site of the crash was closed in the immediate aftermath as emergency services – including police, ambulances and the fire brigade – rushed to the scene, and normal traffic resumed soon before 1pm.
A spokesperson for the coach operator told Mirror Online earlier today: “FlixBus is in close contact with the relevant authorities in order to determine the exact cause of the accident and to ensure all passengers receive appropriate support. An emergency phone number is available for passengers and their relatives.”
The Foreign Office said in a statement that it is in contact with French authorities and will do “all we can to assist any British people who need our help”.
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