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Bastille Day

July 14, 2013 by · Comments Off on Bastille Day 

Bastille Day, France is preparing to mark Bastille Day as investigations continue into the country’s worst rail disaster for 25 years.

Six people were killed when a train derailed at Bretigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris, at 17:14 (15:14 GMT) on Friday.

The French train operator SNCF says the crash may have been caused by a fault on the tracks.

The French president is expected to call for solidarity in a traditional Bastille Day broadcast on Sunday.

Francois Hollande will give a series of television interviews as workers continue to inspect the wreckage.

Francois Hollande, who visited the crash site on Friday, will give a traditional Bastille Day address
A large crane arrived at the site on Saturday evening to lift away the remains of carriages, and to find out whether there are still bodies lying beneath.

French media are reporting that it could still take a number of days to clear the derailed cars.

Crowded
Transport routes were particularly busy at the time of the crash, as France began a long weekend for Bastille Day.

The 14 July celebrations, marking the start of the French Revolution in 1789, traditionally include an annual military parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

A minute’s silence was held across France’s train network at noon on Saturday to commemorate the victims of the accident.

Those killed were four men and two women, aged between 19 and 82. Thirty people were injured, eight seriously.

SNCF said 385 passengers were on board when the train crashed and the station platforms were crowded.

It is expected to take a number of days to lift away the derailed carriages
The train had just left Paris on Friday afternoon and was heading for Limoges when six carriages derailed as the train passed through Bretigny-sur-Orge station at 137km/h (85mph).

Bastille Day

July 14, 2011 by · Comments Off on Bastille Day 

Bastille DayBastille Day, The 222nd French National Day (La Fete Nationale), which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison, which marks the beginning of the French Revolution, was held today in Pondicherry, a former French colony. The day is popularly known as Bastille Day. A French colony for over 200 years, Puducherry part of the Indian State of the Union in 1963. It was on this day in 1789, the Bastille prison in France was taken by assault, marking the beginning of the French Revolution with inspiring slogans of “liberty, equality and fraternity.” District Collector G Ragesh Chandra, on behalf of Lieutenant Governor of the Territory of the Union and Vice-Consul General of France in Pondicherry RenĂ© Marollier were among those who placed wreaths at the foot of the statue. A delegation of five members of the Reunion Island (France), directed by Vice President Consul General of Reunion Roland Robert and representatives of the French living in Pondicherry in French and Vazhumuny Shankar Ramachandran Assembly also paid tribute to the statue. The wing of Pondicherry police band played the national anthems of Mexico and France on the occasion. Puducherry used to celebrate the day in the days prior to the merger as “Raja Pandigai.”

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