One child and one young adult have died after a bus crashed in eastern France, local authorities have said.

The bus was travelling between Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse when it crashed at around 07:00 local time on Friday in the town of Lent, around 34 miles (55km) from the border with Switzerland.

The town’s mayor Yves Cristin told French media the bus “left the road and hit a tree in the ditch”.

The bus was carrying 43 passengers, including 15 children, the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office said. Three people are in a critical condition and a further 13 have sustained minor injuries.

The driver is reported to have been taken to hospital after sustaining injuries and has not yet been questioned by police, the prosecutor’s office added.

Photos circulating in French media show a blue and white bus tilted in what appears to be a ditch on the roadside. Trees line the side of the road. The front of the bus appears to be heavily damaged.

Cristin told BFM TV: “I arrived minutes after the accident and people were in shock.

“The side of the bus was torn off, and clearly, the people who were on that side must have been seriously injured.”

Earlier, French education minister Édouard Geffray said the crash involved students.

He told reporters it was “always difficult when our children are victims of accidents of this nature”.

Emergency services were at the scene and medical helicopters were deployed to take victims with serious injuries to a specialised hospital.

French Transport minister Philippe Tabarot, who was on his way to the area, said more than 100 firefighters had also been sent.

The local town hall was opened to provide shelter and coordinate with emergency services, the local mayor said.