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Background: Eight British tourists were killed and more than 28 injured in a road accident near Dijon, France, Sept 29, when a London coach returning from Switzerland crashed into the rear of a log transporter.

There were 37 people in the coach, including the driver and a courier, when it hit the lorry parked on the side of the national highway between Salins-les-Bains and Dole. Tree trunks stacked on the vehicle tore into the crowded coach and only one person escaped without injury. The driver was among the dead.

Impaled on the end of 18-yard logs, the coach had to be cut apart with acetylene torches before rescue teams were able to get at the passengers. Tangled wreckage blocked the highway for many hours. Police thought the accident, which occurred at sunset, might have been due to sunlight blinding the coach driver.

Meanwhile, the driver of the timber lorry has been cleared of responsibility for the accident.