“All the windows exploded”: relatives of those injured in the bus accident in Ain testify

A few minutes after the bus accident, Friday November 6, a young passenger filmed the interior of the bus. An entire side of the vehicle was torn off. At the front, the windshield was completely pulverized by the violence of the impact. We can see the silhouette of the driver. Immediately, first aid arrives. More than a hundred firefighters, four helicopters. The accident left two dead, a 7-year-old girl and an 18-year-old young man, but also injured 16 people, including three in absolute emergency.

The accident occurred at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, on the D22 departmental road, between the town of Lent and Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain). On site, the perimeter is cordoned off, it is impossible to access the accident site. Relatives of the victims gather in front of the village hall, their faces worried. A young woman is reassured, she received news from her 23-year-old cousin who was inside the bus. "She was on the left, where all the windows exploded. I think her pelvis hurts, her arch is open and she has pieces of glass stuck in that they can't remove," she explains.

In the middle of the rescue, a man heard from his sister who was able to call just after the accident. "I woke up, I heard that she was on the phone. And she was crying, she was saying that she had had an accident. In fact, I think she was shocked. It reassured me a little to already know that she had been able to pick up her phone, call us. It's because things are already going well," he notes.

A total of 49 people were on board the bus, including 15 minors. The accident occurred on a straight line, for reasons still unknown, according to the mayor of Lent, Yves Cristin. “Apparently, but that is the investigation that will determine, he left the road alone and went into the ditch and hit a tree. This is what I was able to see this morning when I went to the scene of the accident,” he relates. The hospitalized driver has not yet been heard from.