A total of 43 people, including 15 minors, were on board the bus when it veered off the road near the commune of Lent
French gendarmes and rescue workers work at the site of a school bus crash, killing and injuring many people, including children, in Lent, in the Ain department, France, November 6, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
At least two people were killed and 16 others injured, including three seriously, in a bus crash in France’s eastern Ain department on Friday, broadcaster BFMTV reported.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote in a post on X that two children had died in the accident. The Ain prefecture also announced in a statement that the accident occurred in the morning near the commune of Lent, leaving at least two dead.
Un accident tragique ce matin à Lent, dans l’Ain. Deux enfants ont perdu la vie et plusieurs personnes ont été blessées dans un accident de bus.
Pensées à leurs familles et à leurs proches, ainsi qu’à l’ensemble des personnes touchées par ce drame.
Merci aux sapeurs-pompiers,…
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) November 6, 2026
The Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office said the victims were a minor and a young adult.
Yves Cristin, the mayor of the small town of Lent where the crash took place, said a school bus had been involved, although the local prefecture said the accident involved an intercity bus.
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Three people were taken into emergency care with life-threatening injuries, the office added. Thirteen others reportedly sustained minor injuries.
A total of 43 people were reported to be on board the bus, including 15 minors. Cristin said 70 people were affected by the crash.
“I arrived minutes after the accident and people were in shock,” Cristin told BFM TV. “The side of the bus was torn off, and clearly, the people who were on that side must have been seriously injured.”
A source close to the investigation told BFMTV that the vehicle veered off the road and ended up in a ditch.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot announced on the US social media platform X that he was heading to the scene.
