French death toll rises to 5 children in train-bus crash
PARIS — French authorities said one more student died Friday after a regional train sliced open a school bus in southern France, raising the overall death toll to five children.
Marseille prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux, who is co-ordinating the investigation with local authorities in the Pyrenees-Orientales region, told a press conference that an 11-year-old child died on Friday afternoon. Four children aged 12 or 13 died Thursday after the accident.
Tarabeux added that three children were released from hospital, but that six others remained hospitalized with injuries that are still life-threatening.
The bus driver, a 46-year-old woman, was also injured in the accident at a crossing close to the Spanish border and has yet to be questioned by investigators.