GRENOBLE (France), July 22: Twenty-six people were killed on Sunday when a coach carrying Polish pilgrims skidded out of control and into a ravine in the French Alps, emergency services said.

Twenty-four people were injured, 14 of them seriously.

The coach, with 48 passengers and two drivers on board, was going down a steep and winding road between Gap and Grenoble when it had problems with its brakes at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT) near the town of Vizille, officials said.

The party was returning from the Roman Catholic shrine of Notre Dame de la Salette, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to two children in 1846.

The Polish-registered vehicle smashed through a safety barrier on the side of the road and hurtled 40 metres onto the banks of the river Romanche below, where it burst into flames. —AFP