Coach operators Voyages Simon have dispatched a coach to ferry the uninjured passengers from the tour bus which crashed in the Loir-et-Cher province on Friday morning.

The coach left Luxembourg during Friday afternoon and is expected to return in the early hours of Saturday morning.

According to the Luxembourg government, the crash occurred at around 8.20am in the morning when the coach veered off the road and into a ditch.

Among the 22 people injured, four were seriously injured and two were in a critical condition with fractures. The government has said that the two received surgery and both are said to be in a stable condition.

Altogether some 44 passengers of Portuguese nationality, were travelling on the Voyages Simon bus from Braga, in Portugal, destined for Luxembourg at the time of the accident. Not all were travelling to Luxembourg, however.

Among the passengers was a nurse who gave first aid to those who were injured and served as an interpreter for the paramedics who first arrived at the scene. At present four passengers have been hospitalised in the Orléans and Blois regions.

An investigation has been opened to ascertain the cause of the crash. It is reported that the bus had been in circulation since April this year. The driver of the coach at the time of the accident, a 44-year-old who has worked for the firm for five years, is in police custody.