PARIS, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 16 others injured, including three seriously, in an accident involving an intercity school bus in eastern France on Friday morning, according to French media reports.
The bus crashed into a tree on the D22 road near Lent, in the Ain department. Authorities have yet to release an official account of the casualties.
It was an "intercity bus," the Ain Prefecture said on the social media platform X. According to reports from some French media outlets such as Le Parisien and Actu.fr, children were among the bus's passengers.
French news channel BFMTV reported that the bus veered off the road and collided with a tree in a roadside ditch. Two people suffered cardiopulmonary arrest, and several others were injured.
Local authorities activated an emergency response plan, deploying two helicopters to assist with rescue operations.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on social media that he was heading to the scene of the crash. ■
