A minor and an 18-year-old were killed and 16 others injured when a bus carrying schoolchildren veered off the road and crashed into a tree in eastern France yesterday, officials said.
The accident occurred early yesterday morning near the village of Lent.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot was en route to the scene.
Three people were in critical condition, prosecutors said.
Dozens of law enforcement officers, two helicopters, and several drones had been deployed to the site of the accident.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said his thoughts were with the students and their families.
‘It is always an ordeal for us when our students, when our children, are victims of accidents of this kind,’ he said.
Firefighters have urged motorists to give priority to emergency vehicles.
The bus, which was travelling between the city of Lyon and the town of Bourg-en-Bresse, was carrying 43 passengers, including 15 minors on their way to school, prosecutors said.
The vehicle ‘left the road and struck a tree in a ditch’, said Yves Cristin, the mayor of Lent.
The driver, who was hospitalised, had not yet been questioned, prosecutors said, adding that an investigation into homicide by vehicle had been opened.
Accidents involving public transport are relatively rare in France.
In 2017, a collision between a school bus and a train killed six students in southern France.
In 2025, a high-school student was killed and 20 others injured when a school bus whose driver had taken drugs crashed near Chateaudun in central France.
The deadliest road disaster in France took place in August 1982 when a motorway pile-up caused several vehicles to catch fire, including a coach carrying children on their way to a summer camp.
The tragedy claimed a total of 53 lives, including 46 children.
