Six children have died after a crash between a lorry and a school bus in western France.
Part of the truck is said to have come loose and sliced into the side of the minibus, killing the passengers instantly.
Several others were injured in the collision near Rochefort, about 100 miles from Bordeaux, shortly after 7am local time. Eighteen schoolchildren were on the bus.
Jerome Servolle, a police union official in the town, said a gate-like object swung open on the truck, cutting through the school bus at window height.
He said: "The word chaos is not strong enough. This is such a tragedy."
French website France Bleu described the object as "side panel" and said it functioned like "huge blade" as it slashed the side of the bus.
Officials for the Charente-Maritime department used Twitter to confirm the deaths of six people.
Rochefort Mayor Herve Blanche told iTele that the circumstances of the early morning crash are under investigation.
He also said six children had been killed.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted to express his "pain and compassion" following the collision.
France's transportation minister and other top government officials are on their way to the scene.
The accident comes a day after two pupils were killed when a bus careered off the road in Montflovin in the east of the country.
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