SWITZERLAND: A bus carrying Belgian children home from a school ski trip crashes into the wall of a tunnel in the Valais region of Switzerland, killing at least 28 people, 22 of them children

Record ID: 382786

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: A bus carrying Belgian children home from a school ski trip crashes into the wall of a tunnel in the Valais region of Switzerland, killing at least 28 people, 22 of them children
  • Date: 15th March 2012
  • Summary: SIERRE, SWITZERLAND (MARCH 14, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF ENTRANCE OF SIERRE TUNNEL WHERE ACCIDENT TOOK PLACE VARIOUS INSIDE TUNNEL AND GREEN WALL SION, SWITZERLAND (MARCH 14, 2012) (REUTERS) JOURNALIST TALKING WITH POLICE INFORMATION OFFICER FROM VALAIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, JEAN-MARIE BORNET (SOUNDBITE) (French) POLICE INFORMATION OFFICER FROM VALAIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, JEAN-MARIE BORNET, SAYING: "We've got a coach that carried 52 persons who left Val D'Anniviers to go home to Belgium. Most of the passengers on board were children at the age of 12. Unfortunately, shortly after getting on the highway, the bus hit a wall in the tunnel, for a reason that is still not known. It's a big shock in the sense that 28 people died, and among those 28 people there were 22 kids at the age of 12. The remaining 24 are injured and have been taken to different hospitals in the region." JOURNALIST TALKING WITH POLICE INFORMATION OFFICER FROM VALAIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, JEAN-MARIE BORNET (SOUNDBITE) (French) POLICE INFORMATION OFFICER FROM VALAIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, JEAN-MARIE BORNET, SAYING: "It's clear this kind of accident never happened before with so many children, 22 children who died and six adults and 24 injured. In the memory of the police here in Valais this has never been seen before, and it's a situation where there are as many strong emotions here in Valais as in Belgium." SIERRE, SWITZERLAND (MARCH 14, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF EXIT OF SIERRE TUNNEL
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland, Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5BQ9L6GB4E549MUKKBNWOZQV
  • Story Text: A bus carrying Belgian children home from a school ski trip crashed into the wall of a tunnel in the Valais region of Switzerland, killing 28 people, 22 of them children, police said on Wednesday (March 14).
    The bus, transporting 52 people, mostly school children aged about 12 from Lommel and Heverlee in Flanders, crashed late on Tuesday (March 13) evening in the canton of Valais, police told an early-morning news conference.
    "We've got a coach that carried 52 persons who left Val D'Anniviers to go home to Belgium. Most of the passengers on board where children at the age of 12. Unfortunately shortly after engaging onto the highway, the bus hit a wall in the tunnel, for a reason that is still not known. It's a big shock in the sense that 28 people died, and among those 28 people there were 22 kids at the age of 12. The remaining 24 are injured and have been taking to different hospitals in the region", police information officer from Valais police department, Jean-Marie Bornet told Reuters.
    The bus was heading back to Belgium from a skiing holiday camp in Val d'Anniviers, a ski resort at about 1,600 metres (5,250 feet) altitude in the Valais Alps that border France.
    Police said the bus had just joined the highway towards Sitten from Siders after coming down to the valley from the resort. After 2 kms (1.2 miles) on the road, the bus bumped into the curb and skidded into an emergency siding of the tunnel.
    The front third of the bus was smashed in. Many passengers were trapped in the wreck and had to be freed. Some 200 police, fire-fighters, doctors and medics worked through the night, while 12 ambulances and eight helicopters took the injured to hospital.
    "It's clear this kind of accident never happened before with so many children, 22 children who died and six adults and 24 injured. In the memory of the police here in Valais this has never been seen before, and it's a situation where there are as many strong emotions here in Valais as in Belgium," Bornet added.
    The crash was one of the worst in Switzerland since 1982 when 39 German tourists were killed on a railway crossing when a train hit their bus and the worst in the Valais region since a bus crashed in a ravine in 2005, killing 12 and injuring 15.
    Last month, a British teacher was killed and more than 20 people hurt in northern France after a coach crashed while bringing schoolchildren home from a skiing trip in Italy.
    Twenty-four other children aboard the Belgium-bound bus were injured and were being treated in hospital, police said. Two drivers in the bus also were killed.
    The cause of the accident was not yet known, police said.
    Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told French radio Europe 1 the bus was one of three travelling together and the other two had returned to Belgium.
    The Belgian ministry of defence said it would make available two aircraft so that the families of the victims could be flown to the crash site later on Wednesday.
    Switzerland's mountain regions have a history of deadly crashes. In 2001, a truck crashed in the Gotthard tunnel under the Alps, causing a blaze which killed 11 people.
    Families of the victims are expected to fly to Switzerland from Belgium later on Wednesday (March 14).
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