The parents of one of the children killed in a crash in the south of France were from the Vila Real de Santo António area of the Algarve.
The school bus, full of children, was hit by a train on a railway crossing, leaving five dead and 24 injured.
The 11-year-old boy’s family had been living in the South of France for several years - the father works for a construction company. The boy’s mother is from Tavira and the father, from Faro but they lived in Vila Real de Santo António until emigrating.
The collision happened early on Thursday afternoon, near Millas which is 15 kilometres from Perpignan. A regional train ploughed into the school bus which had driven onto the crossing and was said to have been stationary when struck at around 50kmph. The impact was such that the bus was torn in two and the train was derailed.
One of the children said the barriers were up and the railway crossing warning lights had not been flashing to indicate a train is coming.
Both drivers are said to have survived and will be questioned as part of an inquiry, by the local prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni, into “manslaughter and accidental injury.”
Fagni promised the families of the victims that investigators will establish exactly what caused the fatal collision.
