BUS ACCIDENT: For the moment, nothing is known about the causes of this bus accident on the A61 Motorway near Narbonne (Aude)
One person died, and 17 others were wounded, one of which is in “absolute urgency”, after the accident this Sunday, on the A61 motorway, in the Aude, of a bus connecting Barcelona to Bordeaux, according to a “provisional” assessment of the authorities, says AFP. The accident took place at Bizanet, not far from Narbonne.
#Narbonne : un mort dans un #accident de bus sur l’#A61 https://t.co/rhTXBijVpy
— L’Indep Narbonne (@Narbonne_lindep) October 6, 2019
The bus of the company Flixbus, “lay on its side for a reason that remains to be determined” while circulating shortly before 1 pm, in the direction Narbonne-Toulouse, with onboard 30 people whose driver indicates the prefecture of the department of Aude in a statement. The company, joined this Sunday by AFP, for its part said that 29 people were on board, including the bus driver.
The vehicle lay in the ditch
The vehicle was the link between Barcelona and Bordeaux, “operated by our local partner on behalf of FlixBus,” said the press service of the company.
— FlixBus_FR (@FlixBus_FR) October 6, 2019
“At 2 pm, the provisional report mentions a deceased person, a person urgently evacuated by helicopter on Montpellier, 16 people in a relative emergency and 12 people unscathed,” the prefecture adds. “More than 10 vehicles of the SDIS and 60 firefighters, 2 helicopters with medical teams and 10 gendarmes” were engaged on the spot, and a medico-psychological emergency cell was set up.
The vehicle went straight down into the adjoining drainage ditch, without a safety slide, the emergency stop strip, according to a police source.
Traffic on the motorway was initially interrupted at the level of the accident. Without specifying the identity of the victims and the people on board, the company Flixbus said that a replacement car would be sent as soon as the green light of the authorities to ensure the transport of the unharmed passengers. The latter were immediately led by the emergency services in the municipality of Bizanet.
