French road pile-up kills eight

The A63 was closed after the pile-up near the town of Belin-Beliet, which involved a Spanish coach and 10 cars.

About 130 fire-fighters anl 24 ambulances went to the scene after the accident at 0400 (0200GMT) on Sunday.

Reports suggest the driver of the coach had braked sharply after a van in front shed its load on to the road.

Police said that all the vehicles involved had been travelling in the same direction.

The coach was carrying Spanish, Portuguese and North African passengers from Braga in northern Portugal to Paris.

Mr Gehin said the pile-up had involved the coach, an "overloaded" van and two cars, one of which had Italian number plates.

Casualty figures released initially by traffic services had put the death toll at 13, but this was later revised by the prefect.