Millas, France: French authorities were investigating on Friday how a train was able to smash into a school bus, killing four children and ripping their vehicle in half in an accident that has stunned the local community.
Four teenagers died on Thursday in the collision at a level crossing in the village of Millas near the southern city of Perpignan.
Local authorities said earlier on Friday that two more children had succumbed to their injuries, but later confirmed the toll remained at four.
More than a dozen other children were injured when the bus was torn in two and the train pulled off its rails, in the worst accident involving a school bus in France for three decades.
Investigators only finished identifying the dead due to the severity of their injuries. The accident site was sealed off as police examined whether a technical or human error was to blame.
It has not been confirmed whether the automatic barriers were open at the time of the crash, though national rail operator SNCF said the crossing was “functioning normally”, citing witnesses.
“The families of those caught up in the accident are going through something absolutely terrible,” said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited Millas on Thursday.
Most of the students were from the local Christian Bourquin junior high school, where pupils were in shock as they headed in on Friday morning.
“I went to sleep at two or three in the morning. I was watching the news, I wasn’t able to sleep,” said teenager Lorena Garcies, dressed in black.
Her cousin and another friend were on the bus, but escaped with broken bones and trauma. “I’m trying to be strong for them,” she said.
The female driver of the bus was among the injured and has not yet been questioned, but Perpignan prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni said investigators had spoken to the train driver. “There was good visibility,” said regional chief Carole Delga.
“This level crossing wasn’t really dangerous and no technical problems had been raised,” she told Europe 1 radio.
She nonetheless pledged to modernise dangerous crossings, as a debate broke out about whether a technical error could have caused the crash.
Samuel Conegero, the father of one of the children, said his son took a photo showing “the barriers were lifted” when the bus drove into the path of the incoming train.
“We will obviously consider malfunctions of all kinds,” senior police official Jean Valery Letterman said. “This will take time.”
At the school, Sabrina Mesas, hugging her daughter Lilou whose best friend was lightly injured in the crash, was struggling to fight back tears.
“We’re in total shock this morning,” Mesas said. “It’s important that everyone is together, that they can talk, to put into words what has happened.” — AFP
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