PARIS

At least 43 people were killed and eight injured in head-on collision between a bus and a truck in southwest France on Friday, local police said.

The crash between a bus carrying 49 elderly people and a truck transferring woods happened 60 kilometers east of Bordeaux, near the village of Puisseguin in the Gironde region at around 7.30 a.m. (0530GMT).

Both the bus and the truck burst into flames on impact. The bus driver and seven passengers managed to escape the flames with head trauma injuries and burns.

The remains of a three-year-old boy, believed to be the son of the truck driver, were found in the truck's cabin, according to Ghislain Rety  a spokesman for the local gendarmes.

"The circumstances of the accident remain to be determined. It is still not clear how the bus burst into flames so quickly," Rety told reporters at the scene.

 "An accident caused many deaths in the Gironde. The French government is fully mobilized on this terrible tragedy," French President Francois Hollande tweeted. He is currently on a two-day visit to Greece.

It is the deadliest road accident in France since 1982 when 53 people were killed in a road accident in Beaune, in the eastern part of the country.

 The Libourne prosecutor has launched an investigation into the accident.

"This is a terrible catastrophe, we have not experienced such a disaster for over 30 years," French Prime Minister  Manuel Valls told reporters as he visited the scene of the accident along with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

" This is a terrible shock for France. France and the French people are in mourning," Valls added.