Oups! (That’s French for “oops.”)
That’s probably what the driver in training thought — or maybe even shouted, perhaps along with some saltier phrases — after piloting a public bus straight into the River Seine on Thursday.
Dozens of rescue workers arrived in Juvisy-sur-Orge, a commuter town near Paris, after the driver veered the bus off course, plunged into the water and took a parked car with it, according to an announcement by the Prefect of Essonne.
Four people were aboard the bus, “including a trainee driver,” Claire Lejeune, a local politician, said on social media.
A parked car also ended up in the water after the bus dragged it into the river on its way down. Photos and videos show the bus completely submerged in the river, with rescuers on top of it.
It may not have been an ideal start to a new job, but nobody was hurt, according to local officials. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Merlin Sacotte, a 25-year-old instructor at a nearby rowing club, saw it happen.
“The crash made a huge noise,” he said in a phone interview on Friday, adding that the sinking took about 10 seconds. He and a colleague, Doriane Ledain, 25, who happened to be in the water on a motorboat, rushed to the scene and helped rescue three of the four people in the bus, one of whom appeared to be a supervising driver.
“They were all in shock,” Mr. Sacotte said.
Mr. Sacotte said that those aboard the bus were able to escape quickly because the impact of the fall into the water blew out the windows.
“I approached two women who were leaning on each other to keep their heads above water,” Ms. Ledain said. “They were being pulled under.”
In a post on social media, Lamia Bensarsa Reda, the mayor of Juvisy-sur-Orge, said that the crash was “more scare than harm, but a tremendous shock.” She added that barriers along the river had been replaced in March.
While the incident ended without any major injuries or damage — other than to the bus and, perhaps, the driver’s ego — the rescue operation drew in 110 firefighters, police officers, divers, crane operators and other personnel, officials said.
Île-de-France Mobilités, the bus operator — which oversees public transportation in the Paris region, including more than 10,000 buses and coaches — could not immediately be reached on Friday. The trainee driver’s name has not been publicly released.
While the incident received significant attention, Ms. Reda said, “fortunately, the story falls into the realm of the unusual rather than the tragic.”
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.
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