| Perpignan crash | |
| Image Map Caption: | Area map of the crash site with routes of school bus (yellow line) and train (purple line) before collision. |
| Coordinates: | 42.6855°N 2.704°W |
| Date: | 14 December 2017 |
| Time: | around 16:00 CET (15:00 UTC) |
| Location: | Millas, Arrondissement of Perpignan, Occitanie |
| Country: | France |
| Line: | Perpignan – Villefranche-de-Conflent |
| Operator: | SNCF |
| Type: | Collision with a road vehicle on a level crossing |
| Cause: | Under investigation |
| Deaths: | 6 (the fifth victim died the day after the crash, the sixth was announced on 18 December)[1] |
| Injuries: | 24 |
The Perpignan crash occurred on about 4pm 14 December 2017 at a level crossing in the commune of Millas, in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, between a coach carrying high school students and a TER train, which connects Villefranche - Vernet-les-Bains and Perpignan stations.
Six pupils on board were killed and 24 were seriously injured by the accident. Trains between Perpignan and Villefranche were cancelled.[2] [3]
The road vehicle is a school bus Irisbus Récréo of the company Autocars Faur based in Toulouse that brought back 23 students.[4] [5]
The railway vehicle is a self-propelled train of series Z 7300 (element Z 7369).[6]
The collision occurred at a level crossing equipped with two half-gates, about one kilometre from the school, at the automatic level crossing No. 25 of the line from Perpignan to Villefranche - Vernet-les-Bains at the place known as Los Palaus in the commune of Millas, about twenty kilometres west of Perpignan[7] on departmental road 612 (named Route de Thuir on this section).
Four pupils on board were killed on the day, and 24 were seriously injured – one of whom died the following day.[8] A sixth fatality was recorded on 18 December.[9]
While visiting the scene, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said that the "circumstances of this terrible drama are still undetermined."[10] The Minister of Transport Élisabeth Borne also visited the scene.[3] An SNCF official said "several witnesses said the barrier was down" at the time of the crash.[10] According to her employer, the bus driver says that the barriers were up and safe. Drugs and alcohol tests for both the train and the bus drivers were negative.[11]