POLAND: 26 Poles die in coach crash in France

The Polish and French presidents travel to Grenoble to visit Polish pilgrims injured in a coach crash in eastern France. At least 26 Polish people died in the crash. At least 26 Polish pilgrims died on Sunday (July 22) when their coach crashed off a mountain road at a notorious accident blackspot in the French Alps and burst into flames, police and officials said. A further 24 people were injured, 14 critically, when the coach smashed through a roadside barrier on the steep Laffrey gradient, some 30 km (19 miles) from the southeastern city of Grenoble, after apparently suffering problems braking. The coach plunged 40 metres (130 feet) down the slopes before coming to rest on the banks of the Romanche river. Most of the victims perished in the fire, said emergency officials, and DNA forensic experts from Paris would be needed to identify the bodies. Several bodies were laid out beneath white sheets on the grassy river banks, the wrecked coach smouldering in the background as fire crews doused it with foam. Helicopters and emergency vehicles ferried the injured to hospital in Grenoble. Reports said the Poles, from the Szczecin area of northwest Poland, had been due to return home on Tuesday after two weeks of pilgrimage in Spain and France. Angry locals called for action to prevent more deaths on the steep stretch of road and President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited survivors in hospital with Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski, promised action once an official investigation was complete. Kaczynski thanked Sarkozy and medical staff for their efforts. "First of all, I feel very sad, and I'm also touched by the attitude of the French president," said Kaczynski. After visiting the injured, the two presidents headed to the local mortuary, where the bodies of the dead had been taken. Witnesses reported hearing squealing brakes before the accident. The driver at the wheel was killed in the crash, the second was seriously hurt. In Poland, members of the parish and relatives were distraught at the news of the crash. "My daughter got in touch with me. She's got a broken leg and collarbone and head injuries and is badly shaken up," Poland's TVN24 quoted a weeping Malgorzata Wachowiak as saying of her daughter, Karolina, aged 22. ends

ITN Source | July 23, 2007