The bus, which was carrying 44 Irish people, was involved in a collision with a single vehicle near Mont Luis in the south of France

Injuries as bus carrying Irish people crashes in France

by · RTE.ie

A bus carrying a number of Irish holidaymakers has crashed in the south of France, near the border with Spain, leaving more than a dozen people injured with what are understood to be minor injuries.

The group of 44 Irish people, are on a holiday with travel group Travel Department and are staying in Roses in the north of Spain.

Today is the third day of their week-long holiday.

The bus was on its way back to their accommodation after a day trip when it was hit by a car which was travelling on the wrong side of the road at Mont Louis.

A number of injured people were taken to hospitals in Perpignan and in Spain.

Passenger Tiernan Dolan from Longford described how a car went out of control and hit the bus leaving people with facial injuries.

He said the bus was "very high up the mountain so it's a good job we didn't go over the side".

Over a dozen people were injured after the bus was involved in a collision with a car

He said there were a lot of emergency personnel at the scene who he described as "superb".

Mr Dolan said the passengers who were taken to hospital had bleeding faces but he said they seemed like minor injuries.

"Everybody got a little bit of a bang and there was a lot of shock."

The group is waiting for a transfer to their Spanish accommodation in Roses in the north of Spain.

Mr Dolan said tour operator Travel Department had sent the passengers a text message to say it was aware of the crash and that it was doing all it could to help.

The Department for Foreign Affairs has been contacted for comment.