MILLAS: French authorities were investigating yesterday how a train was able to smash into a school bus, killing six children and ripping their vehicle in half in an accident that has stunned the local community, reports AFP.

Four teenagers died on Thursday in the collision at a level crossing in the village of Millas near the southern city of Perpignan, with the toll rising Friday when two 11-year-old girls succumbed to their injuries.

Fourteen other children were injured when the bus was torn in two and the train pulled off its rails, in the worst accident involving a school bus in France for three decades.