The Perpignan crash occurred when a train crashed into a

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...

on a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

between

Millas Millas (; ca, Millars) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localization Millas is located in the canton of La Vallée de la Têt and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Hydrography The rive ...

and Saint-Féliu-d'Amont in the

Arrondissement of Perpignan An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'' ...

in the French province of

Occitanie Occitanie may refer to: *Occitania, a region in southern France called ''Occitanie'' in French *Occitania (administrative region) Occitania ( ; french: Occitanie ; oc, Occitània ; ca, Occitània ) is the southernmost administrative region of ...

at about 4pm on 14 December 2017. The bus was severed into two. Four pupils on board were killed on the day, and 24 were seriously injured – one of whom died the following day. A sixth fatality was recorded on 18 December. Trains between

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

and Villefranche were cancelled.

Investigation

While visiting the scene, Prime Minister

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 ...

said that the "circumstances of this terrible drama are still undetermined." The

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since May 2022. She is a member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance. A civil engineer, government official and manager of sta ...

also visited the scene. An

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

official said "several witnesses said the barrier was down" at the time of the crash. According to her employer, the bus driver says that the barriers were up and safe. Drugs and alcohol tests for both the train and the bus drivers were negative.

References

{{School bus crashes 2017 road incidents in Europe 2010s road incidents in France Bus incidents in France December 2017 events in France Level crossing incidents in France Perpignan Railway accidents in 2017 History of Pyrénées-Orientales 2017 disasters in France