A coach taking 47 British holidaymakers home from a school skiing trip rolled into a ditch in northern France on Sunday, killing a teacher and injuring 23 people, officials said.
Six people were said to be seriously hurt, including a 13-year-old girl who was in a critical condition in hospital in Reims, they said. The majority of those on board were children.
The driver, who is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel when the coach crashed in the early hours of Sunday, has been detained, a local prosecutor said.
The Interski Snowsport school which organised the trip said the dead man was a 59-year-old teacher. The Foreign Office had earlier identified him as a 61-year-old Briton.
The Solus travel coach was on a school trip and carrying 29 children from a school in Alvechurch, just south of Birmingham, and 18 adults in addition to two drivers, the Foreign Office said.
The prosecutor said the driver, who was slightly injured, tested negative for drink or drugs.
The holidaymakers were on their way back from Italy's popular Valle d'Aosta skiing region when the bus rolled into a ditch in rainy conditions.
It was the only vehicle involved in the crash, which happened around 3:00 am (0200 GMT) on a motorway near Chalons-en-Champagne, between Troyes and the port of Calais.
The road was partly closed for about four hours as 100 firefighters, 20 police and four emergency teams helped the victims.
Some 25 passengers are being treated for shock, the prosecutor said, adding that as many as possible would be repatriated on Sunday. They were taken to the small nearby town of Fagnieres.
The Foreign Office said the ambassador to France Peter Ricketts and his deputy Ajay Scharma were at the scene.
Local officials said a second British coach came upon the accident and took the victims on board to shelter from the rain.
Source: AFP European Edition
