PARIS – Four people were injured, one seriously, when a double-decker tour bus that took a detour due to a major display of sporting events got stuck inside a tunnel under a Paris bridge Friday, police and the bus company said.
Dozens of police officers were seen around the bus as it backed out of the tunnel several hours after the accident. Its top-level windshield appeared smashed and what looked like a tent roof was collapsed.
The accident occurred shortly after noon as the Big Bus Tours bus traveled from the Place de la Concorde, a large square between the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs- Elysees, the police headquarters press office said.
Information on the injured, including their nationalities, was not immediately available.
Big Bus Tours said the bus had taken the tunnel on a roadway under the Alexandre III bridge, which spans the Seine River, because other routes were closed as Paris shows off its sporting ways in its bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
Traffic was off-limits in large areas of the city center until midnight.