A regional train on Thursday hit a school bus on a crossing in southern France, killing six children and critically injuring nine other people on the bus, the French Ministry of the Interior said.
Photographs from the scene tweeted by a local television station showed the train derailed and the bus shorn in half — with first responders gathered around.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who flew to the scene on Thursday night, said authorities still did not know what led to the accident at the crossing in Millas, about 15km west of Perpignan, close to the border with Spain.
Philippe said the “circumstances of this terrible drama are still undetermined.”
He confirmed that two inquiries were underway into the accident that left six children dead and 18 others injured — including nine seriously.
The Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) rail authority said witnesses described the crossing gates as functioning properly.
Occitanie President Carole Delga told broadcaster France-Info that “it appears that there was no mechanical problem at this crossing.”
However, the head of the Occitanie administration, Philippe Vignes, told reporters that investigators would examine whether everything worked properly and also look into reports that batteries in the automatic gate system had recently been stolen.
He said seven of the injured and some of the dead had not been identified by late on Thursday.
About 70 firefighters, 10 ambulances and four helicopters responded to the crash.
The school bus was transporting children home from the Christian Bourquin school in the village of Millas. It was carrying about 20 children aged between 11 and 15, the local authority said.
Psychological help was being offered at a local sports hall from yesterday morning.
SNCF official Gaelle Le Fauche said that the train was carrying 25 people, including passengers and crew, and all were accounted for and being offered psychological care.
She added that that train normally travels at 80kph at that location.
“Several witnesses said the barrier was down” at the time of the crash, Le Fauche said.
She said the people on the train were “totally shocked.”
French Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne and French Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer planned to speak to children at the school yesterday.
“France is in mourning,” Blanquer said on Twitter.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “All my thoughts go to the victims of this terrible accident and their families. The government is fully mobilized to give them emergency help.”
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