Three teenage girls killed in a road accident in Haute-Loire; a drunk driver was at fault.

Three teenage girls, aged 13, 14, and 15, died in a two-vehicle collision on the RN88 highway between Saint-Ferréol-d'Auroure and Firminy in the Haute-Loire region of France, between Friday night and Saturday morning. The accident occurred shortly before 2:00 a.m. when one car violently rear-ended another vehicle carrying seven young people. The impact was particularly brutal, leaving the three girls no chance of survival; they died at the scene despite the rapid intervention of emergency services.

Four other passengers were injured, three of them critically. These included a 20-year-old man and two 18-year-olds, all seriously injured and receiving medical attention. A 14-year-old girl, also in the vehicle, sustained minor injuries. The scale of the tragedy required a significant emergency response, with firefighters working in difficult conditions due to the force of the impact and the number of victims.

An investigation has been opened into a road traffic homicide.

The driver of the second vehicle, a man in his twenties, tested positive for alcohol. Taken into custody, he was not hospitalized, as his condition did not warrant it. The public prosecutor's office in Le Puy-en-Velay has opened an investigation for vehicular manslaughter and involuntary injury caused by a driver in order to determine the precise circumstances of the accident and establish liability.

According to initial findings, the car that was struck was traveling at low speed, possibly due to a mechanical problem, which may have contributed to the collision. The investigation will also need to determine the speed of the vehicle involved and the traffic conditions at the time of the incident, in a context where driving under the influence of alcohol remains one of the leading causes of fatal accidents on French roads.