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A tragic accident on a motorway in western France on Friday claimed the lives of four people and left nine others seriously injured when a bus carrying Ukrainian students overturned, local authorities confirmed. The incident occurred near the town of Degré in the Sarthe region, approximately 230 kilometres southwest of Paris.
Officials later revealed that both Ukrainian drivers of the bus had been detained on suspicion of manslaughter and causing “involuntary wounding.” According to Emmanuel Aubry, a local state official, all four victims were adults, and the overturned bus was the sole vehicle involved in the crash.
The group on board included teenagers aged between 15 and 17, who were returning to Ukraine after a school exchange trip, according to the Ukrainian embassy in France. Ukraine’s ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, described the accident as “very, very sudden” following conversations with passengers. The embassy has been liaising with the families of those affected, noting that some of the children had been able to contact their relatives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on social media confirming that three of the four deceased were Ukrainian citizens. He also reported that two others remained in critical condition, with French doctors working to save their lives, expressing gratitude to French authorities for their assistance.
French Labour Minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet said that an additional 18 passengers sustained minor injuries in the accident. Meanwhile, French Prime Minister François Bayrou extended his condolences to the victims and pledged a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
