Bus crashes in eastern France, several casualties, authorities say

(Adds details paragraphs 2-3) PARIS, Nov 6 - ​A bus crashed on ​Friday morning in eastern ‌France near ​Switzerland, resulting in "several victims", local authorities said.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said the ‌crash involved a bus believed to be transporting school pupils, with the mayor of Lent, thesmall town where the crash took place, ‌confirming that it was a school bus. The local prefecture ‌said the collision involved an intercity bus. The Lent mayor, Yves Cristin, said 70 people were affected by the crash and that it had ⁠opened ​its community ⁠hall to provide care and shelter to the crash victims.

BFM TV showed a ⁠picture of a blue and white bus tilted in what appeared ​to be a ditch on the side of ⁠the road, while a crowd of people stood outside of it. The broadcaster ⁠reported ​two fatalities but a spokesman for the civil protection agency told the broadcaster he could not confirm the deaths. ⁠The prefecture also told Reuters it could not confirm any deaths.

The ⁠transport minister ⁠Philippe Tabarot said he was on his way to the scene.