Friends of the Rail Forum

Five Children Die As Train Hits School Bus
Updated:15:33, Monday June 02, 2008

At least five children have died after a train ploughed into a bus carrying school children in the Alps.

The bus, carrying 50 children, was on a level crossing when it was hit.

All of the dead are children, it is reported.

The gendarme service in the Haute-Savoie region on the Swiss border said at least 12 children were injured, six seriously.

A spokeswoman for the French state rail company SNCF said several train passengers were also lightly injured.

The crash happened near the town of Allinges.

SNCF said the level crossing was functioning properly at the time.

Sky News

Update:

Seven Children Die As Train Hits Coach
Updated:22:14, Monday June 02, 2008

A train ploughed into a school coach at a level crossing in the French Alps, killing seven children and injuring 24 people.

The bus was carrying 50 pupils of middle-school age, five adults and a driver on a field trip to a historic village on the shores of Lake Geneva, according to police in the Haute-Savoie region.

The collision ripped off part of the rear end of the coach and caused its roof to cave in.

The seven dead were all children. Three of the injured were in serious condition. Several passengers on the train were slightly injured.

The train was on a route between Evian in France and Geneva.

The accident occurred near the town of Allinges, near the Swiss border.

The SNCF rail authority said it appeared the level crossing was working normally at the time of the accident, and that investigations were under way to determine the cause.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to the victims during a speech on education on Monday.

"All we can do, unfortunately, is hope that there will be as few victims as possible," Sarkozy said. The president's office said he planned to visit the crash site on Tuesday.

The crash was among the most deadly accidents in years at France's level crossings.

In 1997, a crash between a regional train and a truck in southwest France killed 13 people and injured 42. In 2003, a collision between a car and a regional train in northern France killed five people.

Sky News