France in mourning after pensioners killed in horror bus crash

[webfact]

France in mourning after pensioners killed in horror bus crash



BORDEAUX: -- At least 43 people, most of them pensioners on a hiking trip, have been killed after the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck.

The accident happened in the town of Puisseguin in south-west France, east of Bordeaux.

The crash occured at around 7.30 am local time on a dangerous stretch of road, according local residents.

Both vehicles burst into flames on impact.

Authorities say it was the intensity of the fires that caused so many fatalities.

The driver of the bus managed to open the doors allowing eight people to scramble to safety.

Those injured are undergoing treatment for burns and head injuries.

French President Francois Hollande,on a visit to Greece, expressed his solidarity with the victims families and Prime Minister Manuel Valls headed to the scene of the tragedy: “It’s a shock a terrible shock for the region, for the Gironde. It’s a terrible shock for the whole of France. Today France and the French are in mourning,” he said.

Authorities are still waiting to identify those who perished in the crash.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-24

RELATED ARTICLE:
Police: At least 40 dead after bus and truck collide in southwest France
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/865122-police-at-least-40-dead-after-bus-and-truck-collide-in-southwest-france/

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

[webfact]

What went wrong? France probes horror bus crash that left dozens dead



BORDEAUX: -- A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after France’s deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

At least 43 people were killed and four seriously hurt on Friday morning in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus carrying elderly day-trippers.

Both vehicles burst into flames after the crash near a forested bend on a two-lane road cut into a hillside near Puisseguin, some 60 km east of Bordeaux.

TV footage showed two blackened vehicles, with the bus facing the wood-transporter’s trailer, the truck’s cab skewed to one side, and scorched vegetation around the site, which was sealed off by police.

While early reports suggest the lorry may have jackknifed and left its side of the road, caution is being observed.

“Only by investigating the traffic conditions and markings left by both the bus and the HGV will we be able to find out more about the vehicles’ speed and the way in which the accident unfolded,” said investigating prosecutor Christophe Auger.

The bend was well signed and no accidents had occurred there for five years, according to authorities in the rural Gironde region of France, east of Bordeaux.

But while the speed limit was 90 kilometres per hour, former bus driver Daniel Lys said:

“To take that bend, 40 kilometres per hour is the most you can do. It is narrow and really very sharp. There is an embankment on the side. You can’t see a thing.”

Whatever caused the tragedy, it has devastated the families and friends of those who perished, hailing from small village communities where almost everyone knows a victim or loved one.

The bus was carrying about 50 pensioners south to the Bearn region from their homes in the village of Petit Palais and surrounding hamlets. The crash occurred just a few minutes after the pensioners had boarded the vehicle.

The bus driver survived – praised as a hero for helping those who could escape the flames.

The lorry driver died alongside his passenger – his three year old son.

It was the worst 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 organisation Association Prevention Routiere.

Stricter road regulation and lower speed limits followed, and traffic 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 annual death toll has dropped below 4,000.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-24

[arfurcrown]

A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after France’s deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

Note the comment above.

There is and will be an exhaustive investigation into this disaster, it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Now perhaps if a similar action was to be applied to such mishaps here in Thailand the safety of the traveling public and the bus crews would be greatly improved

[zaZa9]

Ye PERHAPS , but if a road vehicle accident of this magnitude happened in France more than 30 years ago , cynics could assert that for all the investigations , and all the safety advances and all the driving restrictions made since - human error can never be legislated out of existence.

An "exhaustive investigation" cant and wont stop it happening again.

[connda]

That's a page 4 entry in one of the major local papers here in the LOS - maybe. Water under the bridge in less than two days considering that bus crashes with fatalities are such a common event in this country with the 2nd highest road fatality statistics. Mai bpen rai. No one cares.

Two days ago, a 'lorry', if that's what you call them in Europe - we call them tractor-trailers, came around the corner of the two lane road leading to my home in Lamphun province, in the right lane, essentially taking up the entire road (right and left lane) with the truck doing at least 80kpm - I'm surprised he made the corner without over-turning the trailer. If I would have been there 7 seconds earlier, I may not have been writing this. Thai drivers are about universally insane as soon as they get behind the wheel of a vehicle - there is no excuse for it - and I don't want to hear from cultural apologists. Kill me, fine. But that would have killed my wife too.

Aggressive driving + total disregard for human life + (truck, car, bus, motorcycle) = death and maiming [that seems to be the equation Thais use once behind the wheel]

That would not have even made a news paper. Just would have left my son without a mom or dad, and the truck driver would have run like the cowards that most of these overly aggressive jerks are. I have no respect at all for that segment of the Thai population, and that's a large segment indeed.

RIP for the 43 lost souls. Obviously the French and the West cares about their own. I do.

Edited October 24, 2015 by connda

[giddyup]

A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after France’s deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

Note the comment above.

There is and will be an exhaustive investigation into this disaster, it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Now perhaps if a similar action was to be applied to such mishaps here in Thailand the safety of the traveling public and the bus crews would be greatly improved

Accident investigators in Thailand would be busier than a Beirut bricklayer if they had to investigate every serious accident.

[Calach]

What a shame, such a beautiful bus...

[nemrut]

A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after France’s deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

Note the comment above.

There is and will be an exhaustive investigation into this disaster, it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Now perhaps if a similar action was to be applied to such mishaps here in Thailand the safety of the traveling public and the bus crews would be greatly improved

If Thailand had the resources/infrastructure to conduct such an exhaustive investigation as France is undertaking, it would likely be more developed and expensive country to live in for farang like yourself who dont understand the meaning of 'developing country.'

[wabothai]

Just one driver not paying attention resulting in many deaths.

[connda]

A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after France’s deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

Note the comment above.

There is and will be an exhaustive investigation into this disaster, it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Now perhaps if a similar action was to be applied to such mishaps here in Thailand the safety of the traveling public and the bus crews would be greatly improved

Accident investigators in Thailand would be busier than a Beirut bricklayer if they had to investigate every serious accident.

I'm assuming your analogy would be more accurate in the updated version of a Syrian bricklayer or Palestinian bricklayer in this particular decade.

[Zyxel]

What a shame, such a beautiful bus...

Cynical bastard !

[ableguy]

A long and difficult investigation lies ahead after Frances deadliest road crash in more than 30 years.

Note the comment above.

There is and will be an exhaustive investigation into this disaster, it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Now perhaps if a similar action was to be applied to such mishaps here in Thailand the safety of the traveling public and the bus crews would be greatly improved

Where would the thousands of people come from needed to lnvestigate serious accidents here in Thailand, how could the courts deal with the results when open and shut murder cases can drag on for years, finally it's the bus crews who cause the majority of these problems , so how would an investigation greatly improve hire behaviour. .?