"I think I've just experienced the worst day of my life," Mayor Lamia Bensarsa Reda said after a trainee's bus plunged into the River Seine near Paris on Thursday morning. Divers and rescue teams pulled the trainee driver, the instructor and two passengers from the partly submerged vehicle, and no fatalities were reported. The bus struck a parked car before going into the water in Juvisy-sur-Orge, south of the capital, and officials said both an internal review by the regional transport authority and a criminal inquiry have been launched.

What happened

The incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m. Local time. The town is Juvisy-sur-Orge in Essonne, south of Paris. Witnesses and officials described a bus leaving the station when it hit a parked car and went into the Seine.

Divers and rescue crews reached the vehicle quickly. They pulled four people out. No fatalities were reported.

Photos and images released by the town show the bus partly submerged close to the riverbank. A dark blue car lay nearby in the water. Towing teams later removed the bus and the car from the river.

Who was on board and how they were saved

Officials said the bus carried a trainee driver who was nearing the end of her instruction, the instructor who was present for the lesson, and two passengers. All four were recovered by emergency services.

Divers searched the bus and confirmed no one remained trapped inside.

Mayor Lamia Bensarsa Reda described the scene as shocking. She said it was the first time she had seen anything like it. "I think I've just experienced the worst day of my life," she said. The mayor thanked police and emergency teams for their rapid response.

Investigations under way

Authorities opened inquiries immediately. Île-de-France Mobilités, the regional transport authority, asked the bus operator to start an internal probe into what happened. The move was announced in a press release from officials in the region.

Mastheads

Separately, local prosecutors opened a criminal inquiry into the incident. This prosecutor's office registered an inquiry into involuntary injury caused by a vehicle, according to statements released by local authorities.

Those steps mean investigators will look at the training record of the driver, the role of the instructor, the bus's mechanical state and whether protocols were followed. They will also examine the parked car's situation and whether anyone was inside when the collision occurred. Divers found no person trapped in the car.

Local effects and emergency response

The mayor said municipal police worked to keep traffic moving and to clear the scene. Boats patrolled the river while divers searched the bus and car. A police helicopter circled above during the rescue phase, officials said.

Traffic links near the river were disrupted for several hours. Emergency services stayed at the site while recovery teams removed the vehicles. Local officials have been monitoring river navigation and bank access as crews worked.

The regional transport authority's request for an internal probe points to questions about training and supervision. The presence of an instructor on board suggests the drive was part of a supervised lesson. That fact has moved the incident beyond a routine traffic crash to a review of operator procedures and trainee oversight.

An internal review will look at whether the instructor intervened, what commands were given, and how the trainee reacted. It will also examine vehicle condition, maintenance history and route markings near the station and riverbank.

Those are standard lines of inquiry in accidents involving public transport.

The accident raised immediate concerns about safety on roads near riverbanks. Officials said the bus left the station and entered the riverbank area. That layout will be examined to see if signage, barriers or road design contributed to the path the vehicle took.

Police and municipal teams will review whether extra protective measures are needed where bus stations sit close to waterways. The episode also highlighted the role of rapid emergency response. Quick action from divers and first responders prevented injuries from becoming worse, officials said.

The mayor framed the survival of the four people as down to the speed of rescue teams. Local authorities emphasized cooperation between municipal police, regional transport officials and emergency services. Île-de-France Mobilités' call for an internal probe shows regional oversight has moved to formal review.

That formal review runs in parallel with the criminal inquiry. One process will examine internal rules and company procedures. The other will look at whether a criminal offence occurred under French law.

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Local officials said the four people rescued were safe, and that both an internal probe by the transport authority and a separate criminal inquiry had been opened.

This article was created with AI assistance.