NINETEEN PEOPLE DIED AND EIGHT OTHERS WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN A BUS IN WHICH THEY WERE TRAVELLING CRASHED INTO A RAVINE NEAR EPINAL, IN EASTERN FRANCE EARLY TODAY (MONDAY).

THE BUS, CARRYING A FOLKLORE SINGING GROUP TO PERPIGNAN IN SOUTHERN FRANCE, CRASHED THROUGH THE PARAPET OF A BRIDGE AND LANDED UPSIDE DOWN ON THE RAILWAY LINE BENEATH.

THE ALARM WAS GIVEN BY A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL, WHO SCRAMBLED OUT OF THE WRECKAGE AND UP THE BANK TO HAIL A PASSING MOTORIST.

WORKMEN WITH OXYACETYLENE EQUIPMENT WORKED FOR SEVERAL HOURS TO RECOVER ALL THE BODIES, MOST OF WHICH WERE BADLY MUTILATED.

THE DEAD AND THE INJURED WERE TAKEN TO THE NEARBY SPA TOWN OF VITTEL. THE GROUP HAD JUST TAKEN PART IN THE EUROPEAN FOLKLORE CONTEST AT SENONES, AND WAS ON ITS WAY HOME TO PERPIGNAN.