Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Alpe d'Huez bus crash
Emergency workers inspect the scene after a bus which was carrying 53 people back to the UK from Alpe d'Huez crashed near the ski resort. Photograph: EPA
Emergency workers inspect the scene after a bus which was carrying 53 people back to the UK from Alpe d'Huez crashed near the ski resort. Photograph: EPA

French coach crash: police investigate whether brakes failed

This article is more than 10 years old
Driver of coach carrying ski resort staff back to UK from Alpine resort praised for 'remarkable courage'

French police are investigating whether the brakes failed on a coach carrying British ski resort staff, which smashed into rocks on a steep Alpine road and caught fire killing the driver and seriously injuring three passengers on Tuesday afternoon.

The man, so far unnamed and believed to be from the north-east of England, who was at the wheel of the vehicle descending from the resort of Alpe d'Huez, was praised for his "remarkable courage" said to have saved the lives of many other youngsters in the coach.

On Wednesday morning police were still interviewing those who escaped the inferno to try to establish the cause of the crash. Witnesses told police the driver had warned them there was a problem, as the coach veered off the road and smashed into overhanging rocks. Some passengers escaped from the burning vehicle by breaking the windows and jumping out. The survivors were flown back to the UK on Wednesday on a specially chartered flight that left Grenoble airport at around 16.00 local time.

The driver, who worked for Classic Coaches, based in Country Durham, was transporting 53 people from the Alpine resort of Alpe d'Huez back to the UK. The steep and winding road, known as the Route Napoléon, links Cannes with Grenoble through the Alps. With its 21 bends it is often used as one of the stages of the celebrated Tour de France cycle race.

Jean Rampon, director of the local prefect's office, said: "The bus was descending and the drive had the time to warn the passengers that he had a problem with the brakes. He hit the rocks and the bus caught fire."

Transport minister Frédéric Cuvillier visited the scene of the accident on Tuesday evening and praised the "remarkable courage" of the driver, whose action, he said, had "saved many lives". He said the position of the vehicle suggested the driver had tried to slow the vehicle down by hitting the rock rather than risking it veering off the road into a ravine.

"The driver showed remarkable courage. The witnesses all agree that his acts and his attitude meant a much heavier loss of life was avoided," Cuvillier said.

The Grenoble public prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat said it appeared "very probable that this was a problem with the brakes".

"Now the question is why and it will be a long inquiry," he told journalists.

Several hours after the accident, the burned-out coach could be seen hanging over the edge of the mountain road. Empty and charred suitcases along with clothes and personal belongings were scattered around.

The passengers were said to be "seasonal ski workers" aged around 25 returning to Britain after the resorts closed. Around 100,000 seasonal workers make the annual pilgrimage to the northern Alpine region.

"When we arrived, people had got out (of the vehicle) by themselves," said one rescuer who said it was a scene of panic with passengers screaming and crying.

The driver was killed, and three other passengers seriously injured. A further 26 were described as slightly injured". The remainder escaped unharmed. A woman who was seriously burned has been taken to the specialist burns unit at the Edouard Herriot hospital in the city of Lyon. The two other injured passengers are in the general hospital at Grenoble, one in intensive care and the other in a surgical ward.

In total, 80 firefighters in 30 vehicles and 45 gendarmes were mobilised.

The most serious recent coach accident in the Alps was in July 2007, when 26 Polish pilgrims were killed and 14 others injured when their vehicle crashed and caught fire in a ravine at Vizille in the Isere after leaving the road.

Most viewed

Most viewed