Two people, including a minor, were killed and 16 others injured when an intercity bus carrying schoolchildren crashed in eastern France on Friday morning, French authorities said. Three of the injured are in a serious condition, the prefecture in the Ain department confirmed.
The crash happened at around 7:00 a.m. local time on the D22 departmental road near Lent, a small town south of Bourg-en-Bresse in the Ain department, north-east of Lyon and about 55 kilometres from the Swiss border. The bus was travelling between Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse, carrying more than 40 people, including 15 minors on their way to school.
According to local reports, the vehicle veered off the road and crashed into a tree in a roadside ditch. Lent Mayor Yves Cristin told French media that the bus had left the carriageway before striking the tree, and the local community hall was opened to shelter the victims and their families.
A major emergency response was launched, involving firefighters, police, gendarmes and rescue helicopters, along with the Ain departmental road management service. The Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor's office confirmed the toll: one minor and one young adult killed, 16 injured, three of them seriously. Two of the victims had suffered cardiopulmonary arrest at the scene, BFMTV reported.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said in a post on X that he was heading to the site following what he described as a serious bus accident near Lent. Education Minister Édouard Geffray confirmed that those involved in the crash were school pupils, and the authorities moved quickly to inform families and the schools the children attend.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into homicide by vehicle to establish what caused the bus to leave the road and to determine the exact circumstances of the crash. Investigators will examine the vehicle, the road and the driver's actions, as well as whether any mechanical failure or medical episode played a part, though officials have not yet pointed to any single cause.
Intercity coaches are a lifeline for school transport in rural France, carrying pupils from villages to schools in larger towns each morning, and a crash involving children inevitably draws intense attention. The prefecture said an accident involving an intercity bus had occurred near Lent with multiple casualties, and emergency services remained at the scene through the morning.
The injured were taken to hospitals in the region, with the three most seriously hurt receiving urgent treatment. Local officials said support was being arranged for the pupils who survived the crash and for their classmates, as schools in the area dealt with the shock of losing two young people on an ordinary school morning.
The investigation is expected to take some time. Prosecutors will take statements from the driver, the surviving passengers and witnesses, and technical experts will inspect the bus and the stretch of the D22 where it left the road. Any findings on the cause will be announced once those checks are complete.
For now, the toll stands at two dead and 16 injured, and the authorities are expected to update it if the condition of any of the seriously injured changes. The crash is a reminder of how quickly a routine school journey can turn into tragedy, and of the questions it leaves behind for the families, the schools and the community of Lent.
