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Swiss Coach Crash: Royals Attend Memorial For Dead Belgian Children (PICTURES)

PICTURES: Tributes And Tears As Memorial Held For Bus Crash Victims
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Dina Rickman is an assistant editor at The Huffington Post UK

Thousands attended a memorial service in Belgium for 15 children and two adults who died in a coach crash in Switzerland last week.

The service, attended by the King of Belgium Albert II and Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo, was televised in the in the country and attended by an estimated 14,000 - with some watching the proceedings on screens outside the hall.

Twenty-two children and six adults died in the accident, the cause of which is not yet known. One grieving parent addressed the crowd saying their daughter was "a wild thing, a beautiful girl, a spinning cat.. you were a wonder."

The mayor of the town where most of the children were from, Lommel, asked during the service: "Is there anything worse than parents who lose what they love most?"

Some of those who died in the crash were Dutch nationals, and the King of Belgium was joined at the service by Prince Willem Alexander, the Dutch Crown prince and the prime minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte.

The memorial will be followed by private burials attended by the victim's families.

Coach crash tragedy
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Children cry as they attend a memorial service outside of the Soeverein Arena in Lommel, Belgium on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Thousands of mourners are attending a memorial service for victims of last week's bus crash in a Swiss tunnel that killed 22 children and six adults. Under a sparkling sky, a solemn procession Wednesday carried the coffins of one teacher and 14 schoolchildren who came from 't Stekske school in northern Belgium, one of two schools whose students were returning from a traditional "snow class" vacation in Switzerland for 12-year-olds March 13 when tragedy struck. (AP Photo/Ermindo Armino) (credit:AP)
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Mourners watch a memorial service on a video screen outside of the Soeverein Arena in Lommel, Belgium on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Thousands of mourners are attending a memorial service for victims of last week's bus crash in a Swiss tunnel that killed 22 children and six adults. Under a sparkling sky, a solemn procession Wednesday carried the coffins of one teacher and 14 schoolchildren who came from 't Stekske school in northern Belgium, one of two schools whose students were returning from a traditional "snow class" vacation in Switzerland for 12-year-olds March 13 when tragedy struck. (AP Photo/Ermindo Armino) (credit:AP)
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Mourners watch a memorial service on a video screen outside of the Soeverein Arena in Lommel, Belgium on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Thousands of mourners are attending a memorial service for victims of last week's bus crash in a Swiss tunnel that killed 22 children and six adults. Under a sparkling sky, a solemn procession Wednesday carried the coffins of one teacher and 14 schoolchildren who came from 't Stekske school in northern Belgium, one of two schools whose students were returning from a traditional "snow class" vacation in Switzerland for 12-year-olds March 13 when tragedy struck. (AP Photo/Ermindo Armino) (credit:AP)
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Children cry as they attend a memorial service outside of the Soeverein Arena in Lommel, Belgium on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. Thousands of mourners are attending a memorial service for victims of last week's bus crash in a Swiss tunnel that killed 22 children and six adults. Under a sparkling sky, a solemn procession Wednesday carried the coffins of one teacher and 14 schoolchildren who came from 't Stekske school in northern Belgium, one of two schools whose students were returning from a traditional "snow class" vacation in Switzerland for 12-year-olds March 13 when tragedy struck. (AP Photo/Ermindo Armino) (credit:AP)
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In this photo released by the Belgian Department of Defense, coffins of children and teachers who were killed in a deadly bus crash in Switzerland are displayed at a hangar, at the military airport of Melsbroek, Belgium, Friday, March 16, 2012. A coach accident in Switzerland left 28 dead, including 22 children traveling home after a skiing holiday. (AP Photo/Belgian Defense Department) (credit:AP)
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A convoy of hearses leave the military airport of Melsbroek, Friday 16 March 2012. Belgium held a day of national mourning Friday for the 28 people who died in a school bus crash in Switzerland while Swiss authorities investigated whether the design of the tunnel contributed to the disaster. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (credit:AP)
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Children look from behind a memorial fence for victims of a bus crash at 't Stekske in Lommel, Belgium on Friday, March 16, 2012. A coach accident in Switzerland left 28 dead, including 22 children from Belgium traveling home after a skiing holiday. Belgium holds a national day of mourning on Friday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) (credit:AP)
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A view seen from a car as it travels through the tunnel directly ahead the accident site on Thursday March 15, 2012, where a tourist bus from Belgium crashed in a tunnel of the motorway A9, in Sierre, western Switzerland Tuesday. Twenty-eight people, including 22 children, returning to Belgium from a skiing holiday died in a bus accident in Sierre. (AP Photo/ Keystone/Olivier Maire) (credit:AP)
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People light candles during a memorial service at the 't Stekske school in Lommel, Belgium on Thursday, March 15, 2012. A coach accident in Switzerland on Wednesday left 28 dead, including 22 children from Belgium traveling home after a skiing holiday, local police said Wednesday. Police said 24 children were injured when their Belgian bus crashed into the wall of a motorway tunnel near Sierre, south of Bern, late Tuesday. The cause of the crash on the straight stretch of road was not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) (credit:AP)
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