Updated | Video has emerged of the aftermath of a crash that has killed 42 people in a collision between a bus carrying retirees and a truck in southwestern France early on Friday, according to French officials.
The vehicles reportedly collided head-on and then burst into flames around 8 a.m. local time. The two drivers were killed, as well as at least 46 passengers of the bus. Five passengers escaped with injuries while three were unharmed, according tothe Guardian.
The coach was carrying a bus full of retirees on a trip, the regional Sud Ouest newspaper reported.
"It was a bus carrying elderly people," Mael Gohaud, a spokesman for the Gironde Prefecture, told CNN. "There are five people who are injured and three people safe."
It is the worst road accident in France since 1982, when 53 people died in a crash in the central region of Burgundy.
The accident took place near the commune of Libourne, in the region of Gironde, east of the city of Bordeaux. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are heading to the site of the crash.
French President Francois Hollande called the accident an "immense tragedy" in a statement released by his office and said that the families of victims have "the solidarity of the whole nation."
Correction: an earier version of this story showed incorrect footage of the moment of crash.
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