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20 Polish pilgrims killed in bus crash in France
A bus carrying Polish pilgrims back from a holy site in the French Alps veered off the road and fell into a river Sunday, killing 20 people and injuring another 20, local authorities said. The accident occurred on a steep descent close to the city of Grenoble on Sunday about 9:30 local time.Firefighters said the bus suffered a problem with its brakes and plowed through a protective fence, falling about 65 feet into a river below the road. Residents of Notre-Dame-de-la-Mesage, a town near where the bus crashed, said the vehicle then burst into flames. The pilgrims were returning from the shrine of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, about 25 miles south of Grenoble. Following a similar accident in the 1970's involving a bus carrying pilgrims, buses have been prohibited from using the road - which has a 7 percent gradient - without a special permit. The bus involved in Sunday's crash pilgrims had no such permit, firefighters said. Posted by: ryuge 2007-07-22 |
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