iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app More

Swiss Coach Crash: Belgian Parents Mourn Children At Scene Of Accident (PICTURES)

The Huffington Post UK  |  By Dina Rickman  |  Posted: 15/03/2012 15:00 Updated: 15/03/2012 15:58

141367451

Relatives of the 22 school children and six adults who died in a coach crash on Wednesday have visited the site where their family members were killed.

According to reports parents wept as they paid their respects at the scene where their children died.

Photos also show tributes and flowers being left at the morgue where the children's bodies are being held.

Twenty-eight people were killed when a coach carrying 52 passengers travelling back to Belgium after a skiing holiday crashed into a wall of a tunnel in Sierre, Switzerland.


The wreckage of the coach

Elio Di Rupo, the prime minister of Belgium declared a national day of mourning following the crash. He said it was a "tragic day" for the country. "Words are useless," he told national radio and TV networks. "This is a tragic day for all of Belgium."

The cause of the crash is still being investigated. The coach had only been on the road for around half an hour, and according to investigators, was not speeding.


Pictures of those who died in the accident


A mourner pays their respects

There has been some speculation that the driver was suffering from a medical condition and possibly had a heart attack. An autopsy is being carried out on his body to see if this could have caused the crash.



View Coach Crash in a larger map

Valais police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said 52 people were on the bus carrying students home from a skiing trip crashed into the wall of a tunnel. A further 24 children were injured in the crash and taken to hospital.

The children are thought to have been from two different schools, the Sint Lambertus school in Heverlee and from the ‘t Stekske school in Lommel.

The students on the school trip had written a blog about their holiday, describing how they missed their parents, and the fun they were having. Read excerpts here.

The wife of one of the drivers who died in the accident told Flemish television channel VTM on Thursday that she had learned about her husband’s death on the Internet.

“Usually, he always tells me when he gets on the road,” she said. “But yesterday that wasn’t the case. When I woke up around 3.30am and saw he still hadn’t sent me a SMS, I started to worry. When I tried calling him, it went straight to voicemail.”

After learning about the tragedy on an information website, she “called the coach company directly.”


Another Swiss newspaper, Le Matin, gave the account of a night guard who entered into the tunnel after the accident.

“I saw the front seats of the bus smashed one against the other; there was blood everywhere, and I could see the children who were still alive fidgeting so that someone could save them,” she said.

“No one was there. No policemen, no firemen. I realised there was nothing I could do alone so I called the rescue teams.”

The mother-of-two said she could still see the children's faces: "I can still see all those faces looking at me, not knowing if they were dead or alive. It was horrible.”

At the hospital in Sion, a doctor told the Associated Foreign Press that the surviving children seemed “excessively calm.”

“After everything they have been through, it is incredible. They are demonstrating an incredible stoicism,” he added.

Launch Slideshow
?
 HIDE THUMBNAILS
SHARE
BACK TO ARTICLE
1 of 15
PLAY ALL
VOTE ON THIS SLIDE

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW UK

Relatives of the 22 school children and six adults who died in a coach crash on Wednesday have visited the site where their family members were killed. According to reports parents wept as they pa...
Relatives of the 22 school children and six adults who died in a coach crash on Wednesday have visited the site where their family members were killed. According to reports parents wept as they pa...
Related News On Huffington Post:
 

 
 
  • Comments
  • 4
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Post Comment Preview Comment
To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.
View All
Recency  | 
Popularity
photo
Jacqueline Marshall
3 Fans
 
07:06 PM on 03/15/2012
The bus should be checked for anything out of the ordinary, fumes etc. It is strange that the children seemed so calm given the circumstances.
Permalink  |
photo
bigshaunsace
principles are all about circumstances......
137 Fans
05:07 PM on 03/15/2012
our thoughts are with you after this terrible tradegy............
Permalink  |
Tojo Melville
6 Fans
03:30 PM on 03/15/2012
A terrible tragedy.. just wondering if seat belts would have helped reduce the terrible toll?..
Permalink  |
potjul
5 Fans
07:11 AM on 03/16/2012
They were wearing seat belts. But even seat belts aren't going to be much use if the seats are compressed into each other by the force of the impact.
Permalink  |