Criminal probe opened after tourist bus crashes near French ski resort killing two people

A criminal investigation was opened on Monday following a coach crash in the French Pyrenees which claimed at least two lives and left eight others including a young child in intensive care.

Perpignan prosecutors opened a formal investigation as police waited to interview the driver of the vehicle involved in the crash close to the ski resort of Porté-Puymorens, near Andorra.

He was heavily sedated following an operation and so far “unable to explain exactly what happened” during the drama on Sunday evening, said a spokesman for local emergency services.

Surviving passengers said the coach had zigzagged out of control, after the brakes of the Spanish coach appeared to fail.

“The driver was desperately trying to stop the vehicle on the mountain road,” said the source.

“After brushing the safety barriers by the side of the carriageway, the coach ended up crashing into a cliff face.”

A witness named only at Laurent, an off-duty firefighter, told the Perpignan-based Indépendant news outlet: “We were driving behind. He [the driver] had been zigzagging for a kilometre and a half.

“It seemed like he was trying to rub the barrier, as if he wanted to lose speed, before crashing into the cliff.”

The death toll on the RN320 road was originally announced as three on Sunday night, before being revised down to two on Monday morning.

The investigating source said: “Police officers from Prades are working to the Perpignan prosecutor and are looking for answers.

“The scene of the tragedy has been closed, so as to allow the police officers to take measurements on the ground, in particular, and around the point of impact.