At least 36 injured as four buses carrying 200 soldiers smash into each other on busy road with major emergency declared
AT LEAST 36 people have been injured in a horror crash involving four buses on the outskirts of Paris.
Police declared a major emergency after the vehicles, which were carrying 200 soldiers, smashed into each other on Wednesday evening.
Four Republican Guard buses were involved in the terrifying collision around 7:30pm local time on the A13 Motorway.
One person has been left seriously injured after the crash near Mantes-la-Jolie, just north of the French capital.
Four people, including two cadets, a soldier and one of the bus drivers, were rushed to a military hospital although their injuries are not life-threatening.
Thirty other people with minor injures were also taken to a nearby hospital.
More than 120 people were involved in the huge but the cause of the shocking incident has not been confirmed.
This collision reportedly happened after a smaller vehicle attempted to move between the buses, according to Le Figaro.
The buses had been carrying around fifty military members which included cadets returning from a visit to a the Evreux air base, around 90 kilometres west of Paris.
They included personnel from the army, navy, and air force.
Local fire and rescue services told people to “avoid the area” after the horror vehicle smash.
France‘s Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, shared a message to the soldiers involved in the horror collision and their families.
He said: “Thoughts go out to all the injured, their families, their schoolmates, and their comrades-in-arms.
“Thanks to the emergency services involved.”
A huge emergency response was launched with around thirty vehicles and fifty firefighters dispatched to the scene.
The uninjured cadets were taken away from the terrifying scene on replacement buses.