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Paris open-top tourist bus crashes into iconic bridge leaving four injured

The Local France/AFP
The Local France/AFP - [email protected]
Paris open-top tourist bus crashes into iconic bridge leaving four injured
File photo: AFP

An open-top tourist bus crashed into a bridge in the centre of Paris on Friday afternoon leaving four injured.

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The open-top double-decker bus, which belonged to the company Big Bus Tours crashed in the tunnel underneath the Alexandre III bridge, leaving four injured, one of them seriously.

The bus that was carrying around 20 passengers, crashed into the bridge, a tourist hotspot due to its ornate structure and views over the Eiffel Tower and River Seine. 

Images posted on Twitter showed damage to the top deck of the bus which appears to have been too high to pass through the tunnel.

It was not clear whether the injured passengers were on the top deck of the bus at the time of the crash.

Numerous emergency vehicles were stationed nearby and the road was closed off to traffic after the accident which occurred around 1pm and on a day when Paris was hosting a large-scale event on the Seine river to promote the city's 2024 Olympics bid, including a floating track.

The bus had deviated from the usual route around the capital to go under the tunnel, which is normally forbidden for vehicles higher than 2.7 metres, according to the Parisian newspaper.

A police source told AFP the bus had been diverted because of the Olympics event.

The Big Bus Tours company, which offers sightseeing trips around Paris on open-top buses, confirmed to AFP that one of its vehicles had been involved in the accident, without giving further details.

Map: Google Maps 

 

 

 

 

 

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