A serious traffic accident occurred Tuesday morning on the A63 motorway in the southern Landes region, on a route linking Bordeaux to Spain. Two coaches collided on a road made extremely slippery by snow and ice, resulting in the deaths of at least two people and injuring dozens of other road users.
The initial collision between the two buses triggered a massive pileup involving numerous vehicles. Trapped on a frozen section of highway, cars and trucks were unable to avoid the successive collisions. Between 50 and 70 people were treated by emergency services, several of them seriously, and nearly 100 vehicles were damaged.
Weather conditions that paralyzed rescue efforts
The emergency response was made particularly complex by the state of the road and the scale of the accident. Rescue teams had to make their way across a completely icy road, slowing access to victims and the evacuation of the injured. The highway remained closed for many hours to secure the area and allow for the removal of the wrecked vehicles.
