Six children dead after French bus crash
Pastor Dale Morgan
Six children dead after French bus crash*
* Story Highlights
* Six children killed and at least 12 injured after bus hit by a train
* Accident occurred in the village of Mesinges in the French Alps
* Bus was carrying 50 middle school-age children, five adults and a
driver
PARIS, France (CNN) -- A regional train in southeastern France crashed
into a school bus killing six children in the Haute-Savoie department
Monday morning, said regional authorities in Annecy.
Police close the railroad crossing
The incident occured when a train ploughed into a packed school bus on a
level crossing
At least 12 others were injured and four were severely injured. Some
people on the train were also hurt.
The bus was carrying 50 children and six adults, including five parents.
The bus was transporting the children from College ge Margencel as part
of a history class field trip to visit medieval sites, said Patrick
Bermond, the school principal in an interview with the radio network
France Info. The children were from a town called Margencel.
The Transportation Minister Dominique Bussereau, Interior Minister
Michele Alliot-Marie and the director of French railways were traveling
to the crash site to inspect what happened.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy said it is too soon to know what
caused the accident but that "each of us has a thought for the children,
the adults, the victims, since the education community is now gathering."
"We cannot do anything but hope that there will be the least victims
possible," Sarkozy said.
The accident occurred in the village of Mesinges in the French Alps and
there were that the location made it difficult to evacuate the injured.
The train came from Avalon and was on its way to Thonon-les-Bains.