PUISSEGUIN, France—A truck and a bus transporting retirees on a day trip collided and caught fire Friday in wine country in southwest France, killing 42 people and badly injuring four others, authorities said. It was the nation’s deadliest road accident in more than 30 years.
An image released by BFM television showed the carcass of the bus — nothing but a collapsing, charred frame engulfed by smoke. Firefighters fanned out along the narrow country road, between a wooded area and an upward slope near the village of Puisseguin, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Bordeaux.
Eight people, including the driver, escaped from the bus after the driver opened the door, but others were trapped as the blaze consumed the vehicles, Puisseguin Mayor Xavier Sublett said on i-Tele television. The four injured were among those who escaped. French media said the truck driver was killed.
The mayor said later on RTL radio that the truck driver lost control of the vehicle. The bus driver “tried to avoid it, but the truck came and hit it, and he couldn’t do anything except activate the mechanism to open the doors to allow some people to get out,” Sublett said.
