Belgians grieve for bus crash victims
Source: Agencies |
March 17, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BELGIUM held a national day of mourning yesterday for the 28 victims of a school bus crash in Switzerland, ringing church bells and stopping trains and factories to show solidarity with heartbroken parents.
Swiss authorities, meanwhile, investigated whether the design of the tunnel contributed to the disaster.
Solemn music filled the airwaves in Belgium and official buildings dropped their flags to half staff. At 11am the nation of 11 million held a minute of silence to mark Tuesday's crash, which killed 22 children returning from "snow classes" in the Alps a traditional rite of passage in Belgium from childhood to the teenage years.
Six adults on the bus - teachers, drivers and ski monitors - also died, and 24 students were injured in the crash.
Three days of national shock turned into heart-wrenching sorrow. Trains and subways stopped in their tracks for the tribute, political leaders stood united in silence, factory workers dropped their tools and Belgian churches slowly chimed bells in unison.
Around noon, a long line of black hearses left a Brussels military airport to take the victims back to their hometowns.
Flags were lowered over the Belgian parliament and in the Netherlands too. Six Dutch kids, who attended school just across the border in Belgium, were among the dead.
The tourist bus carrying 52 people crashed head-on into a wall inside a tunnel.
Olivier Elsig, prosecutor for the Swiss canton of Valais, said the crash is being investigated for three possible causes - a technical problem with the bus, a health problem with the driver or human error.
Investigators have determined it was a modern bus with two rested drivers, that it was traveling within the 100 kilometer-per-hour speed limit, and the tunnel was considered safe.
The Switzerland Federal Office for Roads said it was examining whether the angle of the wall that the bus hit contributed to the severity of the crash.
Swiss authorities, meanwhile, investigated whether the design of the tunnel contributed to the disaster.
Solemn music filled the airwaves in Belgium and official buildings dropped their flags to half staff. At 11am the nation of 11 million held a minute of silence to mark Tuesday's crash, which killed 22 children returning from "snow classes" in the Alps a traditional rite of passage in Belgium from childhood to the teenage years.
Six adults on the bus - teachers, drivers and ski monitors - also died, and 24 students were injured in the crash.
Three days of national shock turned into heart-wrenching sorrow. Trains and subways stopped in their tracks for the tribute, political leaders stood united in silence, factory workers dropped their tools and Belgian churches slowly chimed bells in unison.
Around noon, a long line of black hearses left a Brussels military airport to take the victims back to their hometowns.
Flags were lowered over the Belgian parliament and in the Netherlands too. Six Dutch kids, who attended school just across the border in Belgium, were among the dead.
The tourist bus carrying 52 people crashed head-on into a wall inside a tunnel.
Olivier Elsig, prosecutor for the Swiss canton of Valais, said the crash is being investigated for three possible causes - a technical problem with the bus, a health problem with the driver or human error.
Investigators have determined it was a modern bus with two rested drivers, that it was traveling within the 100 kilometer-per-hour speed limit, and the tunnel was considered safe.
The Switzerland Federal Office for Roads said it was examining whether the angle of the wall that the bus hit contributed to the severity of the crash.
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