Eight killed in French road pile-up

At least eight people were killed when a bus and a van crashed on a main road in southwest France today, officials said.

The accident, which happened south of Bordeaux near the border with Spain, also injured at least 20 people seriously, the officials from the Gironde region said. Dozens more sustained light injuries.

There was no immediate information available on what may have caused the accident at 3.50am.

Dozens of ambulances and 130 firefighters went to help the injured and extricate motorists trapped in wreckage. The more seriously injured were taken to the Bordeaux regional hospital.

The bus was carrying about 50 Portuguese, Spanish and North African passengers, according to Jean-Paul Larrouy-Castera of the Gironde emergency services.