42 dead in OAP coach crash

A COACH and lorry crash in Gironde has killed 42 people including 41 OAPs who were on an outing from the nearby village of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps.

The crash, at Puisseguin on the RD17 road, also left two people with serious head injuries and two others with serious burns. There were 48 people on the coach.

Victims of what is the most serious accident in France in 33 years included the lorry driver, but the coach driver managed to escape after opening the emergency doors which let several passengers escape.

Local officials said the dead were members of a senior citizens’ club in Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps and came from the villages of Lussac, Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps, Saint-Christophe-de-Double, Saint-Sauveur-de-Puynormand, Camps-sur-l'Isle, Les Peintures and Saint-Médard-de-Guizières.

The coach party had only been on the road a matter of minutes and the coach driver has said that he came round a corner to find the timber lorry jack-knifed across the road after going out of control.

A freephone helpline has been set up on 0800 009 763.

In 1982, 53 people, including 44 children aged between six and 15, were killed in a coach and car accident at Beaune, Côte-d’Or.