At least 42 people died Friday in a collision between a bus and a truck in southern France, according to a local government spokesman, reports CNN.
"It was a bus carrying elderly people," Maël Gohaud, a spokesman for the Gironde Prefecture, told CNN. "There are five people who are injured, and three people safe."
In a statement, French president François Hollande called the accident "a great tragedy." He said the relatives of the victims could be assured of "the solidarity of the whole nation."
BFMTV, a CNN affiliate in France, said it was France's worst road accident since 1982. The French government said the prime minister, the minister of interior and transport secretary of state were all headed to the scene of the accident.
The crash took place on the D17 highway in Puisseguin, near Bordeaux, in southern France, said Gohaud, the local government spokesman.
Scenes of horror, heroism and luck began to emerge as Friday wore on. One observer told BFMTV the scene looked like a war zone.