Twenty-six Polish pilgrims died yesterday when their coach
crashed off a mountain road at a notorious accident blackspot in
the French Alps and burst into flames, police and officials
said.
Another 24 people were injured, 14 critically, when the coach
smashed through a roadside barrier on the steep Laffrey gradient,
some 30 km from the southeastern city of Grenoble, after apparently
suffering from braking problems.
The coach careered 40 meters down the slopes before coming to
rest on the banks of the Romanche River. Most of the victims
perished in the fire, said emergency officials, and DNA forensic
experts from Paris would be needed to identify the bodies.
Television pictures showed several bodies laid out underneath
white sheets on the river banks, the coach smoldering in the
background as fire crews doused it with foam.
Several helicopters and a fleet of emergency vehicles ferried
the injured to hospital in Grenoble in an operation that mobilized
60 police as well as fire-fighters.
The Poles had been attending a pilgrimage at the nearby
Notre-Dame de la Salette sanctuary along with nationals from
Belarus, Ukraine, France, Russia and Britain.
"It is a dangerous road, so dangerous that coaches that don't
have the authorization to take it, which seems to be the case here,
are banned from taking it," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon
told reporters after visiting the scene.
"Doubtless the best thing to do is ensure that this type of
vehicle does not take such a difficult route as this."
Gendarme (police) Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Rousseau said:
"Witnesses spoke of a problem with the braking system, an unusual
black smoke." Local officials said the coach's speed may also have
been a factor in the accident.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a message of condolence to
his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski and would meet the Polish
president at Grenoble airport when he arrived later yesterday, the
French presidency said.
Maciej Lopinski, an aide to the Polish president, told the
Polish news agency PAP that the victims' families would receive
financial support from a special presidential fund.
Yesterday's accident happened close to where a Belgian coach
crashed in July 1973, killing 43 people.
Robert Caban, owner of the transport firm that hired out the
coach, told PAP the drivers were experienced and the 7-year-old
Scania coach was in good condition.
"Ahead of the pilgrimage the coach underwent a thorough check-up
in Germany and everything was in order. Before going on the
pilgrimage it had traveled to Spain, and everything was in order,"
PAP quoted him as saying.
(China Daily via agencies July 23, 2007)
