World News for Students of English

30-10-2015 07:00

Forty-two people, mostly elderly, have died when a bus and a truck collided head-on and caught fire near Bordeaux. Another five people were injured in the collision, which happened around 7.30 a.m. on Friday 23rd October in the Gironde region near the town of Puisseguin, on what a local resident described as a dangerous bend.

The victims are believed to have been French pensioners going on a day trip. At least one survivor was seen being stretchered into an ambulance.

Media reports said the accident was the most deadly road accident in France for more than 30 years.

Road deaths in the country have fallen steeply since the 1970s. According to official statistics, more than 16,000 people were dying every year in the early 1970s. In recent years, the death toll has fallen below 4,000.

Difficult words: bend (corner), stretcher (to carry somebody on a stretcher – a type of bed used for carrying someone who is too injured or ill to walk), steeply (rapidly), death toll (the number of dead people).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com