Two children have died in a bus crash transporting school pupils in eastern France, according to French prime minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Several others are injured, according to education minister Edouard Geffray, who said that the students were “on their way to class”.
Three people are currently in a critical condition and 13 others have sustained minor injuries, the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office told BFMTV.
Images taken at the scene show a bus tilted over on the side of a road in what appears to be a ditch by a cluster of trees. Several people are seen surrounding the vehicle.
According to the Ain prefecture, the incident involved an intercity bus route in the Lent area, around 34 miles from the French border with Switzerland. The accident is reported to have taken place at 7am local time on Friday morning.
“A tragic accident this morning in Lent, in the Ain department,” Mr Lecornu wrote in a post on X on Friday.
“Two children lost their lives and several people were injured in a bus crash. Thoughts to their families and loved ones, as well as to all those affected by this tragedy.
“Thank you to the firefighters, medical teams, and law enforcement mobilised on site to provide aid to the victims. The minister of transport is heading to the scene.”
Lent mayor Yves Cristin said that the bus “left the road and hit a tree in the ditch”.
“I arrived minutes after the accident, and people were in shock,” he told BFM TV. “The side of the bus was torn off, and clearly, the people who were on that side must have been seriously injured.”
Transport minister Philippe Tabarot said that he was on his way to the scene following the “serious” crash.
He added that 70 people had been involved in the crash and that a community hall has been opened to provide care and shelter to crash victims.
Geffray expressed his sympathy with those affected, saying: “I cannot begin without first expressing my thoughts for these students and their families. For us, it is always a difficult experience when our students, when our children, are victims of accidents of this nature.”
He later added that he had been “deeply shaken” by the incident.
“On board this interurban bus were notably students who were on their way to class. All my thoughts go out to the victims and their families. I also think of the classmates and teachers of the students who were on board,” he wrote.
“On behalf of the entire educational community, I extend my support to them in this ordeal. I thank the firefighters, the medical teams, and the law enforcement forces who are intervening on site.
The Ain prefecture said it had “activated the departmental operations centre (COD) to coordinate the response of the various crisis management agencies. Emergency services and law enforcement are on the scene. Local mayors are also assisting with the rescue operation.”
The public has been asked to avoid the area and traffic diversions are in place.
Two helicopters have been deployed, according to BFMTV.
The French broadcaster initially reported two fatalities but a spokesperson for the civil protection agency told the broadcaster he could not confirm the deaths. The prefecture also said it could not confirm any deaths.
Cristin said that two people were reported to be in cardiac arrest and the civil security spokesperson said that their condition was “very serious”, according to the outlet. It was also earlier reported that one young adult and one child had died, before the prime minister confirmed both victims were children.
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