At Least 42 People Killed in France Bus Collision, President Says Country is 'Plunged Into Sadness'

By Reuters 23 Oct, 2015 08:27 EDT

At least 42 people died when a bus carrying elderly day-trippers collided head-on with a truck and caught fire near Bordeaux early on Friday, in France's worst road crash in more than 30 years.

Another eight people were injured in the collision on a country road near Puisseguin in the Gironde region about 60km (35 miles) east of Bordeaux, the local prefect's office said in a statement.

The bus was carrying about 50 pensioners south to the Bearn region from their homes in the village of Petit Palais and surrounding hamlets, all just a few kilometers away from the crash site, said officials.

A grainy photo on BFMTV showed smoke rising from the burnt out shell of the bus on a narrow, forested bend.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said that, as far as he could tell, all the passengers were French and from the region.

President Francois Hollande, speaking on a visit to Athens, said he had been "plunged into sadness by the tragedy" and Prime Minister Manuel Valls and other ministers were heading to the crash site.

It was the most deadly road accident in France since 53 people, mostly children, died in a bus crash in Burgundy in July 1982, according to the independent road safety organization Association Prevention Routiere.

Stricter road regulation and lower speed limits followed, and road deaths in France have fallen steeply since. According to official statistics, more than 16,000 people were dying on the roads every year in the early 1970s. In recent years the death toll has fallen below 4,000.

(Additional reporting by Claude Cannelas in Bordeaux; Chine Labbe in Paris and Jean-Baptiste Vey in Athens; Writing by Andrew Callus and Michel Rose; editing by Andrew Heavens)

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At Least 42 People Killed in France Bus Collision, President Says Country is 'Plunged Into Sadness'

Thanksgiving Fair and Luncheon Hosted by River of Life Foundation, ROLCC New Wave English Ministry, and Santa Clara Mayor’s Office

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues.

Survey: Hong Kong teens generally identify with traditional Chinese cultural values

Global Lutherans celebrate Reformation Day, ‘trusting in the power of grace in a merciless time’.

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues

2.1M Korean Christians estimated at joint worship service to affirm family, oppose gay marriage, pray for nation

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues
American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues.