26 Polish pilgrims killed in French bus crash
Afp, Grenoble
At least 26 people were killed Sunday when a coach carrying Polish pilgrims skidded and fell down a ravine near Grenoble in the French Alps, emergency services said. Twenty-four people were injured, 14 of them seriously, they said. The coach, with 49 passengers and two drivers on board, was going down a steep and winding road between Gap and Grenoble in eastern France when it had problems with its brakes at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT) near the town of Vizille, officials said. The coach tour was returning from the Roman Catholic shrine of Notre Dame de la Salette, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to two children in 1846. The coach from Poland smashed through the safety barrier on the side of the road and hurtled 40 metres (130 feet) onto the banks of the river Romanche below. It burst into flames as it came to rest beside the river and was gutted by fire. Local people rushed to the scene and tried to put out the blaze with buckets of water. Large numbers of rescue workers were at the scene after the local prefecture -- or governor's office -- activated an emergency plan. The injured were shuttled to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter. Divers were called to the scene to search for victims who may have been thrown into the river.
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