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Thousands gather in tribute to victims of French coach crash

Nearly 5,000 marched at Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps to mourn the 43 victims, mostly pensioners, of France's worst road accident in 30 years.

La rédaction de Mediapart

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Nearly 5,000 people came to a town near Bordeaux on Sunday to mourn the 43 victims, mostly pensioners, of a horrific coach crash that was France's worst road accident in three decades, reports Yahoo! News.

A coach carrying members of a pensioners' club on an excursion collided with a lorry and burst into flames on Friday near the village of Puisseguin, among the vineyards of the Saint-Emilion area near Bordeaux, plunging southwest France into mourning.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 joined a march on Sunday at Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps, a town some seven kilometres (four miles) from the crash site, a town that was especially hard hit by the accident, according to police figures.

Carrying white roses or wearing black arm bands, the marchers passed through the town in silence. The cortege was headed by relatives of those who had died and by the town's mayor, Patricia Raichini, who herself lost three sisters-in-law as well as members of her council.

Among the mourners was 73-year-old carpenter Jean-Claude Leonardet, bandages around his face, who was one of only eight people who managed to escape from the blazing bus.

Read more of this AFP report published by Yahoo! News.