The death toll from a crash between a school bus and a train in southern France has risen to five after one passenger died of their injuries, reports The Guardian.
Four teenagers died on Thursday in the crash at a level crossing in Millas, near the city of Perpignan. Eighteen others were injured, several of whom remain in hospital in with life-threatening injuries.
Authorities in the Pyrenees-Orientales region had made a statement earlier on Friday saying six children had died, but later corrected it, saying the death toll was five.
An inquiry into “manslaughter and accidental injury” has been opened by the local prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni, who promised families of the victims that investigators would establish the exact cause of the collision.
The impact was so severe that it virtually ripped the bus in half and forced the train off the tracks.
Police interviewed the express train driver on Friday morning but were unable to speak to the bus driver, a 48-year-old woman who is in hospital with serious injuries.
The school bus was 12 miles (20km) west of Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, heading towards Villefranche-de-Conflent when it was hit. It was carrying pupils from the Christian Bourquin secondary school who were heading home to two villages, Saint Féliu d’Amont and Saint Féliu d’Avall.
The mayor of Saint Féliu d’Amont, Robert Olive, said the scene of the crash was a “horrific sight”.
“I don’t know what happened, but the school bus had been actually cut in two by the passing train,” Olive told the local radio France Bleu Roussillon. “The bus appeared to have exploded. People were being very dignified but everyone was shocked.”
The government announced it was sending a special representative to the area to help the victims’ families.
The prime minister, Édouard Philippe, who met victims’ families in Perpignan, described the accident as a “terrible drama”.
“The circumstances have not yet been determined and will be the subject of a legal inquiry to throw light on the circumstances of the drama.”
He said the severity of the crash had made it difficult to identify some of the victims.