France in mourning after 43 die in crash, including boy (3)

Forty-three people died at 7.30 on Friday morning on a winding road through the St Émilion vineyards of southwest France. It was the worst road accident in France since 1982.

The coach carrying 49 members of the Petit Palaisiens pensioners’ club had left Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps, a village of 700, just minutes earlier. Most of the passengers were over the age of 70.

"They were going to the Béarn on a day trip. They were going to have a ham and wine-tasting, eat 'garbure' soup, watch an entertainer and come home in the evening. They left their cars parked on the village square," said Gilles Clion, the owner of the Prince Sarment restaurant where the club sometimes met. The coach drove 7km down the road, through Puisseguin, population 800, and onto the RD17. As he came around the curve known as "the Fox's Fountain", the driver, who survived, said he saw a lorry, its cab at an angle from the truck bed, parked across the road. It was too late to avoid a collision. Both vehicles burst into flames.

“The coach wasn’t going fast. We don’t understand why it burned like that,” said a local resident. A gendarmerie source said the coach must have hit the lorry’s fuel tank head on.

A huge column of black smoke, visible for miles around, rose over the scene. “I thought a house was burning in Puisseguin,” said Pascal Cerisier, who is responsible for maintenance in the village. “I know a lot of relatives of victims. They came to the school this afternoon and I didn’t know what to say to them. I saw people sit down on the school benches and collapse.”

The driver was able to open the coach doors, and eight of the passengers escaped the inferno, four with severe burn injuries. The other 41 passengers died. The lorry driver, who was from the distant Mayenne department, was killed. So was his three-year-old son who was in the cabin with him.

President François Hollande, on an official visit to Athens, said, "The French government is totally mobilised for this terrible tragedy." Prime minister Manuel Valls, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve and transport minister Alain Vidalies visited Petit Palais and Puisseguin.

It was, Mr Valls said, “a horrifying castrophe. It’s a terrible shock for France. Today, France is in mourning”.

Causes of incident

The prosecutor of nearby Libourne has begun an investigation into the causes of the crash. Some speculated that the lorry driver might have worked all night. He had apparently gone to the area to collect wood, but his lorry was empty. Local residents said there was dew on the ground and the lorry might have slid in leaves on the road.

The gendarmerie said it would take three days to clear the site, where they are slowly removing the charred remains of the victims. It is hoped they can be identified through DNA testing.

A memorial chapel was set up in Puisseguin with wine barrels covered with white clothes. Forty-three candles were lit, in memory of the victims. Grieving relatives walked down the streets of the pretty village, their eyes red from weeping, trying to ignore the phalanx of photographers and television cameramen. The wine harvest is just in and the scent of fermenting grapes wafted from steel vats across the road.

The trees and vineyards are autumn yellows, reds and oranges. It seemed strange to witness such grief in this beautiful setting. “It’s a reminder that life is beautiful, and that it should be enjoyed,” said Ali Nachit (47), who does maintenance for equipment in the local wineries. “That’s what the pensioners were doing.”

Dignitaries came from miles around to comfort the families in the memorial chapel. “A village was decimated in one morning,” said Pierre Yerles, a retired winegrower and the mayor of Montagne. “They were leaving for a happy day and they were carbonised in a bus . . . There’s no explanation. It’s fate and you can’t do anything about it.”

Marcel Berthomé (94), the doyen of French mayors, had come from St Seurin-sur-l'Isle to pay his respects. Cathy Buisson, a resident of his village, was killed. So was his cousin Pierre Vergnaud. "I fought in three wars: '39-'45, Indochina and Algeria, " Berthomeé said. "So I always think about the last moments. It's horrible to be burned alive."

The largest number of victims were from Petit Palais. “We don’t know how many we lost. The passenger list burned in the bus,” said a secretary who was locking up the town hall. They town’s mayor, Patricia Raichini, lost three sisters-in-law.

Michel Rougerie, the former mayor of Petit Palais, a widower in his 80s, also perished in the flames. Mr Rougerie was known throughout the area and was the president of the Petit Palaisiens club.

“He sat here, at the bar of my restaurant, on Wednesday and told me about today’s outing and the lottery they were organising for Sunday,” said Mr Clion, the restaurant owner.

Outside, villagers huddled together in small groups, their eyes glassy with emotion. A woman walked by carrying a long stemmed red rose.

Thirty-three years had passed since 53 people, including 44 school children on a school excursion, were killed in the most lethal French road accident, in the Côte d’Or region of Burgundy.