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42 people feared dead in traffic accident in France
Some 42 people are thought to have lost their lives after a traffic accident involving a truck and a bus in the south west of France.
International reports claim that at least 42 people are feared dead in a traffic accident involving a truck and bus in south-west France.
The BBC reports that two vehicles are reported to have collided head-on in the town of Puisseguin, near Libourne in the Gironde region, east of Bordeaux.
The AFP, which reports 39 fatalities, reports a fire official saying that the dead were mostly adult passengers on the bus and that the lorry driver was also killed in the accident, after both vehicles caught fire after the collision.
French news channel BFTV reported that only eight people managed to escape the blaze, five of whom are injured. It added that the bus was carrying pensioners who had just set off from the nearby town of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps.
Sud Ouest newspaper says the bus was carrying elderly people who were setting off on holiday, adding that there were just five survivors.
According to the BBC, this is the worst French road disaster since the one in Beaune in 1982 when 52 people died.
