Madrid — A bus crashed Sunday evening near a ski resort in southern France, killing at least two people and injuring 33 others, local authorities said.

A total of 47 people including the driver were on the bus when it crashed near the Porte-Puymorens ski resort, the regional administration said. Seven people were in critical condition.

Local authorities said a preliminary investigation showed the bus ran into a cliff, but the exact circumstances that may have resulted in such a collision were not immediately clear.

Images released by the local firefighter service showed the bus pressed against the side of a cliff, its right side partially crushed, and the windshield was apparently knocked out.

More than 120 individuals were involved in the high-altitude rescue effort, including from neighboring Catalonia in Spain and Andorra. Four rescue helicopters were also deployed to the accident scene some 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in the French Pyrenees mountains.

Catalonia’s emergency services said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that the bus originated from L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, outside Barcelona, Spain.

A holiday center in Porte-Puymorens resort was opened to house the surviving passengers. The local ski resort has not opened yet because of a lack of snow.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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