problems with its brakes, police and rescue workers said. The death toll was expected to rise as the vehicle reportedly carried at least about 49 Polish Catholics returning from a pilgrimage and two drivers. At least 20 people were seriously injured and four people were missing, said the Polish Radio External Service and other sources. Most of the victims were believed to be elderly people.
France-Info Radio reported at least several of the passengers were long trapped inside the coach. "There were bodies everywhere. It was like the end of the world. I’ve never seen anything like it," a witness told France-Info Radio.
Investigators and fire fighters established that the bus went down a very steep road between Grenoble and Gap in the French Alps, when problems occurred with the brakes. The driver apparently lost control over the bus which smashed through the safety barrier on the side of the road, falling at least 20 meters (60 feet) onto the banks of the stream below.
RESIDENTS SHOCKED
Shocked residents of Notre-Dame-de-la-Mesage, a town near where the vehicle crashed, told
reporters that the vehicle burst into flames. The accident happened while the bus returned from the Roman Catholic shrine of Notre Dame de la Salette, about 40 kilomters (25 miles) south of Grenoble, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to two children in 1846.
Large numbers of rescue workers were called to the crash site. A special helpline has been set up in Warsaw with phone number +48 022 523 90 09.
The spot has been the scene of deadly accidents in the past. A Belgian coach carrying pilgrims crashed near the same spot in July 1973, killing 43 people. Following the accident, buses have been prohibited from using the road — which has a 7% gradient — without a special permit.
NO PERMIT
The bus involved in Sunday’s crash pilgrims had no such permit, The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted firefighters as saying. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon was to visit the crash site later Sunday, July 22.
This was the second bus accident for Poland, as also on Sunday, July 22, a 71-year-old Israeli
citizen was killed in a coach crash in southern Poland, the Polish News Agency PAP reported. Five other people including the dead man’s son, reportedly had been injured in the crash, which happened when one lorry rammed into another that was parked behind the stationary coach.
Most of the coach’s passengers were reportedly Ukrainians and Poles returning from jobs in Germany and German tourists traveling to the Crimea region in Ukraine.
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