A bus accident on a regional line transporting many students south of Bourg-en-Bresse killed two young people, including a minor, on Friday morning and left 16 injured, including three seriously, according to a provisional report given by the Ain prefecture.

Published on: 06/11/2026 - 11:26 Modified on: 06/11/2026 - 11:44

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A bus accident on a regional line transporting many students south of Bourg-en-Bresse killed, Friday, November 6 in the morning, two young people including a minor and left 16 injured, including three serious, according to a provisional report given by the Ain prefecture.

“The driver, hospitalized, has not yet been able to be heard at this stage,” specifies the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office, which speaks of three injuries in absolute emergency. The vehicle, which was traveling between Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse, was transporting 43 people including 15 minors, according to the prosecutor's office which opened an investigation into road homicide.

The accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. on the D22 departmental road in the town of Lent and involved a bus from an interurban transport line, which left Lyon two hours earlier and was traveling towards Bourg-en-Bresse, according to the prefecture.

At this stage, "the provisional toll is one deceased minor", another deceased victim "barely of age" and "three absolute emergencies and 13 minor injuries", according to the prosecution.

Exiting the road

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot is expected at the accident site, access to which is blocked. A large white tent was set up to facilitate the work of the emergency services, according to AFP journalists.

The bus "left the road and hit a tree in the ditch", said Yves Cristin, the mayor of Lent, a town of 1,200 inhabitants crossed by the departmental road.

It was chartered by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, whose president Fabrice Pannekoucke also went there, as did the prefect and the public prosecutor's office.

There were 43 people on board, including 15 minors on their way to their schools, according to the prosecution.

The Minister of Education Edouard Geffray declared from a high school in the Paris region "to have a thought for these students, for their families". “For us it is always a test when our students, when our children are victims of accidents of this nature,” he added.

“The departmental operational center making it possible to coordinate the action of all those involved in crisis management” was activated by the prefecture.

Fifty gendarmes, helicopters and drones

Two helicopters were deployed, the municipal protection plan was triggered, details Yves Cristin.

The victims and their families are welcomed in the Lent village hall. A psychological unit and victim support associations have been mobilized.

Around fifty gendarmes were deployed on site, as well as drones, according to the gendarmerie. The firefighters are calling on social networks to “give priority of passage to emergency vehicles”.

Public transport accidents are relatively rare.

In December 2017, a collision between a school bus and a train killed six schoolchildren and injured 17 in Millas in the Pyrénées-Orientales, causing immense emotion. The driver of the bus was subsequently sentenced on appeal in 2025 to five years in prison, including two years in prison under an electronic bracelet.

More recently, in January 2025, a high school student was killed and 20 students injured when a school bus, whose driver had taken drugs, overturned on a track near Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir).

The heaviest toll dates back to 1982. On August 1, in the middle of the summer rush, a pileup on the A6 motorway, near Beaune (Côte-d'Or), led to the fire of several vehicles including a coach transporting disadvantaged children from Crépy-en-Valois (Oise) who were going to a summer camp in Savoie. Forty-four of them died in the fire.

This tragedy remains the deadliest road disaster in France, killing a total of 53 people, including 46 children.

With AFP

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