Four children were killed and seven were injured when a school bus collided with a train in southern France on Thursday afternoon, the country's interior ministry said.
The incident took place in the town of Perpignan near the border with Spain. The collision took place at an intersection according to the first information.
Transport Minister Elizabeth Bourne described the collision as a "terrible accident" and said she was immediately on the scene, more than 850 km from Paris.
The Interior Ministry said there were 19 injured, seven of them seriously. The victims are school passengers aged 13 to 17.
"All means of emergency are being mobilized and a crisis management operation has been set up," an official told Reuters.
