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.)

Update, 6 November: prosecutors open manslaughter investigation; driver not yet questioned

The Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor's office said the bus was carrying 43 passengers, including 15 minors, travelling from Lyon to Bourg-en-Bresse when it left the road and hit a tree at about 7 a.m. Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation. The driver was taken to hospital with injuries and has not yet been questioned by police. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot travelled to the scene, and more than 100 firefighters were deployed. The cause of the crash has not been established.

Ain prefect Louis-Xavier Thirode told broadcaster BFM that preliminary blood tests on the bus driver found no traces of alcohol or drugs. The driver remains in hospital and has not yet been questioned; the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

November 7 update: driver says he fell asleep at the wheel; now in custody

Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor Karine Malara told a press conference on November 7 that the 26-year-old driver told investigators he had fallen asleep at the wheel and "woke up on the opposite side of the road." The driver, who started work very early and had already completed one trip before the crash, was himself injured and has now been taken into police custody. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter and causing injuries in a traffic accident. The seven-year-old girl who died was from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Preliminary alcohol and drug tests on the driver were negative, and a surprise workplace check in mid-October was also negative. The death toll is unchanged (two dead, 16 injured); the final cause of the crash remains under investigation, and the driver's account alone does not establish it.

(Sources: RTL; Sarajevo Times.)

Update, November 7: Driver says he may have fallen asleep; prosecutors open investigation

Agence France-Presse reported that the 26-year-old driver told investigators he may have fallen asleep at the wheel and woke to find the vehicle had crossed into the opposite lane. Prosecutor Karine Malara confirmed at a November 7 news conference that preliminary drink- and drug-driving tests were negative and that the road was wet; the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into manslaughter and involuntary injury on the road. The seven-year-old girl who died was Bosnian. The final cause has not been established.