Seven dead in French minibus crash 25/03/2008 00:00

Seven people were killed, and four injured, on a motorway in southern France on Easter Monday when a minibus crashed.

   MONTPELLIER, France, March 25, 2008  - Seven people were killed, and
four injured, on a motorway in southern France on Easter Monday when a minibus crashed through the median strip and into two oncoming cars, police said.
   Five of the fatalities were in the minibus, with a sixth left seriously
injured, in the crash on the A9 motorway near Montpellier.
   In one of the two other vehicles involved, two people died and two others
suffered serious injuries. In the second car, one person was slightly injured
and the other was unhurt.
   "This death toll is disastrous and it reminds us that roads in the Herault
region kill," leading local official Cyrille Schott told AFP, as an
investigation opened into why the minibus veered off the road.
   Police were looking into whether the driver might have had a heart attack.
   The driver and passengers in the minibus -- which belonged to the Emmaus
charity -- were between 40 and 50 years old. All dead and injured were French.

AFP