Two Die and 16 Are Injured in School Bus Crash Near Lent, France
A seven-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy died after a regional bus left a road near Lent in the Ain department. Sixteen others were injured.
LENT, France — A bus carrying school pupils and other passengers went off a road in eastern France on Friday morning, killing two young people and injuring 16 others, officials said.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot identified the dead as a seven-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy. Three of the injured were in a serious condition, according to local authorities in the Ain department, northeast of Lyon.
The regional bus left the road near the village of Lent, struck trees and came to rest in a ditch. Emergency crews, police and medical teams were sent to the scene, and helicopters were deployed as part of the response. Officials asked motorists to avoid the area while rescue work was under way.
The bus was a regional service rather than a vehicle carrying schoolchildren exclusively. That distinction matters for understanding who was on board: initial reporting described pupils travelling with other passengers, and the final passenger count was not consistently established across the earliest accounts.
What investigators know about the crash
The circumstances of the crash were not immediately clear. Authorities opened an investigation into the collision, and the driver was taken to hospital. A full explanation will depend on evidence gathered by investigators, rather than early assumptions about the weather or the vehicle.
Lent's mayor, Yves Cristin, told French media that the road was damp but visibility was not affected by fog. Those observations have not established what caused the bus to leave the carriageway.
Reports said the vehicle was a regional service carrying a group of pupils alongside other travellers. The precise number of passengers was described differently in initial accounts, but the death and injury figures were consistent across the principal agency reports available on Friday.
Impact on pupils and families
Tabarot travelled to the scene as families and local authorities waited for further information. Education Minister Édouard Geffray also offered condolences to those affected. The accident disrupted a regional service used by pupils and other travellers, leaving families waiting for verified information from the authorities.
Emergency responders faced the difficult task of reaching passengers in a vehicle that had left the road and stopped among trees. Local services coordinated transport and treatment for injured passengers while investigators secured the site.
The authorities had not announced a definitive cause by the time of reporting. Any further findings about the driver's condition, the road or the vehicle will need to come from the formal inquiry.
As reported on 6 November, two people had died and 16 had been injured, three seriously. Any change to those figures requires a further official update.
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Musa Ersoy
Musa Ersoy is an editor and writer at DEFUXA Global News, covering developments in the United Kingdom and around the world. He researches news stories using official statements, credible sources and independently verifiable information. His editorial work focuses on factual ac…
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