A Spanish coach overturned on Sunday on a mountain road near Andorra in the ski resort of Porté-Puymorens (Pyrénées-Orientales), leaving at least two dead and seven injured, police and the prefecture said.
The “provisional report” from the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture, transmitted in a press release on Sunday evening, also reports seven “relatively urgent injuries”. The accident occurred around 5:00 p.m., and involved a Spanish coach which was carrying 47 passengers including the driver on board, specifies the prefecture in its press release.
Mountainous road
The bus passengers are mainly of Spanish nationality, we learned from a police source. A four-year-old child is among those injured in relative emergency, the same source said.
More than 120 firefighters are mobilized on site, coming from the Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as the neighboring departments of Ariège and Aude. They also have the reinforcement of Catalan and Andorran firefighters, who have come to support in this border area.
The accident took place on the RN 320, a mountainous road between the Pyrénées-Orientales, Ariège, Andorra and Spain, where the bus overturned on the road. To deliver first aid to this area made difficult to access by the winding roads, at least four helicopters from Civil Security and the gendarmerie were therefore mobilized, underlines the prefecture.
Ongoing investigation
More than 70 gendarmes are also on the scene of this accident concerning a coach of a Spanish tour operator. “An investigation is underway to determine the exact causes of the accident”, indicates the prefecture, which also announces that a “psychological unit has been activated to support the victims and their families”.
In this town which is a two-hour drive from Toulouse and Perpignan, a holiday center was to be open on Sunday evening to welcome the passengers of this coach. 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.
