In the cemetery of Hazemont, in Crépy-en-Valois, a slew of white balloons rises in the sky, released by women and men with a serious and painful look.
Some accompany them with a wave of the hand, while others weep bitterly.
"We'll never get used to it," whispered one participant.
This Sunday, there were several dozen to participate in the ceremony of meditation for the 40th anniversary of the Beaune disaster (Côte-d'Or), where 53 people including 46 children lost their lives in a road accident.
The tragedy, the deadliest in France to date, occurred on the night of July 31 to August 1, 1982 on the A6 motorway towards Lyon, where the two coaches traveling from Crépy-en-Valois were transporting 107 children in summer camp.
Around 1:40 a.m., the traffic conditions were bad: it was raining and, due to the crossover, the traffic was heavy.
Also, the driver of the first coach is tired and has already driven a lot.
At kilometer 313, where the road changes from 3 to 2 lanes, the second bus hits vehicles which are between it and the first, which catches fire.
Only fourteen children and one adult could be saved from the vehicle, by managing to escape through the back door.
The others die of suffocation or burns.
A real national tragedy, this accident marks a real turning point for road safety.
“Each commemoration is very complicated”
In the process, a certain number of measures were taken: reduction of the maximum speed for coaches and driving time for their drivers, speed limit in rainy weather, reinforcement of technical controls... "Today, the number - still too many - of people killed on the roads of France has been divided by four since 1982, recalls the Minister of Territorial Communities and Mayor of Beauvais Caroline Cayeux, present at the commemoration.
We will never cease to be vigilant so that never again will parents have to mourn the death of their children.
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But forty years later, the pain is still strong among the families of the victims who had made the trip to Beaune the day before.
"Each commemoration is very complicated," says Chantal, who lost three children that day.
“A lot of things come to the surface, sighs Daniel, a resident of Crépy-en-Valois who came to support friends.
Here, no one can forget.
All we can hope for is that it never happens again.
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