School bus crashes in eastern France, killing two and injuring 16

A bus carrying schoolchildren crashed in eastern France on Friday (November 6) morning, killing two people and injuring 16, three of them seriously. Authorities are investigating the cause, with no weather anomaly reported so far.

Victims were a 7-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man

The crash happened at about 7 a.m. local time near the small town of Lent in the Ain department, north-east of Lyon and close to the Swiss border, on the D22 road. The bus was travelling from Lyon to Bourg-en-Bresse with 43 people on board, including 15 middle and high school students, when it veered off the road, struck a tree and ended up in a ditch, its side torn open.

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the dead were a seven-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man; the prefecture described them as a minor and a young adult. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X that two children had died in the accident and offered condolences to their families. Sixteen people were injured, three of them in critical condition.

Mayor: road slightly wet, no fog; cause unclear

Lent Mayor Yves Cristin said he arrived minutes after the accident and found people in shock, adding that the side of the bus had been torn off and that passengers on that side must have been seriously injured. He said the road was slightly wet and there was no fog, and that it was not understood why the bus had veered off. The town has opened its community hall to care for and shelter the victims.

Tabarot travelled to the scene, and Education Minister Édouard Geffray also responded to the accident. The cause remains under investigation, and prosecutors have opened an inquiry.

(Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, November 6, 2026.)