Police and emergency services at the scene of the accident of a Spanish coach in POrté-Puymorens which left at least two dead, in the south-west of France, on December 1, 2024. (AFP / Jean-Christophe MILHET )
A Spanish coach traveling between Barcelona and Andorra hit a cliff on Sunday on a mountain road in the Pyrénées-Orientales, an accident which left at least two dead and seven seriously injured, according to the prefecture.
The “provisional assessment” drawn up by Didier Carponcin, sub-prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales on Sunday evening during a press point, also reports “26 people slightly injured”.
The accident occurred around 5:00 p.m. in Porté-Puymorens at nightfall, and 47 people were on board the coach, including the driver, explained Mr. Carponcin.
“It was a bus coming from Andorra on the RN320, coming from the Col de Puymorens, the bus violently hit the left side of the road and stopped, the impact was very violent,” he said. -he added.
– Colombian passengers –
The passengers on the bus are mainly of Spanish and Colombian nationality, we learned from the authorities, and a four-year-old child is among those injured in relative emergency.
Nearly 200 firefighters were mobilized on site, coming from the Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as the neighboring departments of Ariège and Aude. They also received reinforcement from Catalan and Andorran firefighters, who came to support in this border area.
The injured were evacuated to hospital centers in Toulouse, Perpignan, Foix and Puigcerda, around twenty kilometers from the scene of the accident, on the Spanish side of the border.
Rescue in Porté-Puymorens after the accident of a bus from Barcelona to Andorra, on December 1, 2024. ( AFP / Jean-Christophe MILHET )
Some of them are in an absolute emergency situation, pushing the State representative to insist on the “provisional” side of the assessment.
The accident took place on the RN 320, a mountainous road between the Pyrénées-Orientales, Ariège, Andorra and Spain, where the bus left its lane.
In images sent by the authorities, he appears to have crossed the road and crashed into the cliff on the driver's side. One entire side of the vehicle was torn off by friction with the rock wall.
At the microphone of BFM TV, the mayor of Porté-Puymorens, Jean-Philippe Augé, specified that the passengers of the coach had left Barcelona on Sunday morning, for an excursion to Pas de la Casa, a town in Andorra renowned for its duty-free stores. The accident occurred while the coach was returning to Barcelona, he said.
To deliver first aid to this area made difficult to access by the winding roads, five helicopters from civil security and the gendarmerie were therefore mobilized, underlined the prefecture.
– Psychological cell –
Perpinan prosecutor Jean-David Cavaillé told AFP that an investigation had been opened to determine the causes of the accident.
Gendarmes, members of a pediatric service in Toulouse and emergency services at the scene of the accident of a Spanish coach in Porte-Puymorens, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, on December 1, 2024. (AFP / Jean-Christophe MILHET )
“Is it a human error, is it linked to technical problems, brakes, that the bus encountered, I cannot say at the moment,” said the sub-prefect, while the accident area is completely cordoned off by the police, for the purposes of the investigation.
“Testimonies” report the “zigzags” that the bus was making before being damaged, he conceded.
The prefecture also announced that a “psychological unit has been activated to support the victims and their families”.
The weather conditions were not unfavorable at the time of the accident, “there was no snow or ice”, assured AFP Jeanine Ribo, deputy mayor in the neighboring town of Porta.
“It’s a very narrow place, where the cliff juts out onto the road,” she adds.
In this town which is a two-hour drive from Toulouse and Perpignan, a holiday center was opened on Sunday evening to accommodate 12 occupants of the coach, who were not injured.
The accident occurred in this small village which is home to a ski resort. It has not yet opened its doors due to lack of snow.
