Coach plunges off mountain road leaving 26 pilgrims dead

TWENTY-SIX Polish pilgrims died yesterday when their coach crashed off a mountain road at a notorious accident blackspot in the French Alps and burst into flames, officials said.

A further 24 people were injured, 14 critically, when the coach smashed through a roadside barrier on the steep Laffrey gradient, some 30km from the south-eastern city of Grenoble, after apparently suffering braking problems.

The coach careered 40m down the slopes before coming to rest on the banks of the Romanche river.