Bus crash in Ain, France, kills two, driver claims he fell asleep

The accident occurred around 7:30 AM on the D22 departmental road near the small town of Lent.

The bus, chartered by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, was transporting 49 people, including 23 minors.

The 26-year-old driver, hospitalized with leg injuries and held in custody, indicated he “fell asleep,” according to Bourg-en-Bresse public prosecutor Karine Malara. “Initial testimonies confirm the driver’s drowsiness,” she stated.

“When he woke up, he found himself on the opposite side of the road and struck several trees lining the road before coming to rest in a ravine,” the magistrate explained, opening an investigation into manslaughter and entrusting it to the gendarmerie.

The driver reportedly left Lyon around 5:30 AM and had “already completed one route before this one, which connected Lyon to Bourg-en-Bresse… but we will verify the exact schedules,” Malara also said.

The accident resulted in two fatalities: a seven-year-old Bosnian girl and an 18-year-old student from Lyon. Four people are hospitalized in critical condition, two with life-threatening injuries, and 25 others sustained minor injuries.

A high school student who uses the route daily testified, “The driver made a very sharp turn. We were in the right lane. We drifted to the left lane. Then, we plunged into a ditch.”

Another young female passenger, who was also injured, said, “We tried to save most of the people who… couldn’t get out. We tried to take the people who had blood on their faces to the side of the road so they wouldn’t get crushed.”

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot described the event as a “major trauma” during a press conference at the scene.

According to Tabarot, the vehicle was “in very good condition” and the driver, “new” to the transport company which has been inspected 106 times since 2024, had previously tested negative during a random drug test in mid-October.

Jean-François Débat, the mayor and president of the Bourg-en-Bresse agglomeration, described the road as “well maintained” with “a slope, a slight right-hand bend.”

A support association, Avema-France victimes 01, has been dispatched to assist victims and their families, reporting “people in shock, stunned,” and being cared for in the town’s community hall, where psychological support is available.

“We are experiencing this as a failure, but we will not give up trying to make bus and coach transport even safer in our country,” the Transport Minister concluded.

A total of one hundred firefighters and fifty gendarmes were deployed to the scene, along with drones and four helicopters.

The last similar tragedy occurred in December 2017, when a collision between a school bus and a train killed six middle school students and injured 17 in Millas, Pyrénées-Orientales. The bus driver was sentenced in appeal in 2025 to five years in prison, two of which were served under electronic monitoring. In January 2025, a high school student was killed and 20 students injured when a school bus, driven by a driver who had taken drugs, overturned near Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir).