ALLINGES (France), June 2: Six children were killed and 18 people injured on Monday when a train ploughed into a packed school bus on a level crossing in the French Alps, local officials said.

The passenger train, linking Evian-les-Bains and Geneva, struck the bus that was carrying 50 pupils and six adults at around 2:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) in the village of Mesinges near the town of Allinges.

The 12- to 13-year-olds, from a local school in Margencel, were on an history outing to the medieval village of Yvoire near the Swiss border, according to the local prefecture.

The reasons for the crash were unknown, but the French state rail operator SNCF said the level crossing seemed to have been functioning normally at the time.

“Six children died in the accident, which left four people seriously injured and 14 slightly injured,” the prefecture said. Several train passengers were among those slightly injured.

President Nicolas Sarkozy referred to the disaster during a speech on education at the Elysee Palace in Paris, calling on his audience to spare “a thought for the victims of this very serious accident” in the Alps.—AFP