About fifty students were on board the bus when it overturned as it came out of a bend. Seventeen middle school students were injured, two of them seriously.
This Monday, September 23, late in the afternoon, 55 students attending the Marthe-Gautier middle school in Charny, near Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), were on board a ViaBus bus when the vehicle, which was traveling along the country road, overturned after a series of bends. The bus was traveling on the D129, between Villeroy and Chauconin-Neufmontiers. The Parisianwho reported the accident, said the road was wet due to the downpours.
When the vehicle overturned at the end of the bend, several of the students, aged 11 to 15, were injured. While 38 students and the driver declared themselves unharmed when the Samu medical teams arrived, accompanied by 63 firefighters, 15 people reported injuries. Two other students were less fortunate. They were considered seriously injured on Monday evening. However, their lives were not in danger.
Driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs
The students who were not injured were nevertheless examined by the rescuers before being sheltered from the bad weather that continued in a community hall, not far from the scene of the accident. The injured were dispatched between the emergency rooms of Ghef in Meaux (8 students) and Jossigny (7 middle school students). As for the last two injured, they were initially stabilised on site before being taken to the emergency rooms of the Robert-Debré and Trousseau hospitals in Paris.
Initial findings point to a probable responsibility of the weather. The bus driver, aged 33, tested negative for alcohol and drugs. Considered experienced by his employer, he participated in the evacuation of students after the accident. For its part, the vehicle, which was put into service in 2011, would have passed its technical inspection five days earlier, according to the company.