26 Poles on Pilgrimage Die in Blazing Bus

A bus transporting Polish pilgrims from a holy site in the French alps plunged off a steep mountain road into a river bank and burst into flames yesterday, killing 26 people, authorities said.

Fourteen others were seriously injured in the crash, which occurred near the village of Vizille, not far from Grenoble, officials from the prefecture of the Isère region said.

Residents of a nearby town said the bus missed a 90-degree bend, ploughed through a barrier and fell about 20 metres (65 ft) on to the banks of La Romanche river, bursting into flames.

"When the bus was burning, there were injured people inside," said Philippe Baret, owner of the field where the bus landed. "I saw at least six of them who were stuck inside the bus and burned to death before my very eyes."

He said he helped pull injured people and bodies out of the bus before flames engulfed it. Victims were evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Grenoble. Crews searched the river by helicopter and boat for passengers.

A Polish foreign ministry spokesman said in Warsaw there were 50 people on the bus; French media reported 50-60 people on board. They were returning from the shrine of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, 25 miles south of Grenoble. They left Poland on July 10 for a two-week visit to sanctuaries in France, Spain, and Portugal.