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At least 43 people, most of them pensioners on a hiking trip, have been killed after the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck.
Motorists desperately tried to smash windows of the burning bus to free passengers near Bordeaux, south-western France.
Most of the victims were French pensioners going on a day trip to walk in the wine producing region of Bearn.
Among the dead were the wood lorry driver and his three-year-old son, sources in France reported.
The crash happened at around 7.30am in the Gironde area, about 60km (35 miles) from Bordeaux in the town of Puisseguin.
Witnesses said the vehicles collided on a dangerous bend – and described the aftermath as “like a war zone”.
A doctor at the scene told how some survivors lay on the side of the road, while others were in shock, covered in blankets.
An image released by BFM television showed the carcass of the bus – nothing but a collapsing, charred frame engulfed by smoke.
Helicopters were evacuating severely burned victims, and scores of emergency workers were at the scene.
Eight people escaped from the bus. Three are seriously hurt, while the other five have minor injuries.
The bus driver was among the injured.
Dr Philippe Flipot told Le Parisien newspaper how he spoke to the bus driver at the scene.
“I saw the bus driver at the scene and he was in shock. He told me he was unable to avoid a jack-knifed lorry but managed to open the doors for passengers to escape,” he said.
“He was also forced to flee the bus to escape the flames – but managed to evacuate some of the passengers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si5aWlAEIJQ
Dr Flipot, who said some survivors had been badly burned, added that he treated several passengers, including an elderly lady.
“She told me that she was just so glad to have survived – then she burst into tears,” the doctor said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
