Swiss bus crash kills 28, including 22 children
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A bus smashed into a tunnel wall in the Swiss Alps, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds returning from a ski vacation and the six adults who were accompanying them, police said Wednesday.
Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries, Valaiscantonal (state) police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told The Associated Press.
The bus carrying 52 people, including young students from two different Belgian schools, hit the tunnel wall shortly after 9 p.m. local time Tuesday on the A9 highway near Sierre, Switzerland, in the southern Swiss canton of Valais, an area of popular ski resorts.
Authorities were still identifying all the victims, said Didier Reynders, the Belgian foreign minister. It was unclear exactly how the accident happened, he said.
“It is incomprehensible,” Reynders said.
Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said this is “an extremely sad day for all of Belgium.” He was flying with the families of the victims to Switzerland, the government said.
Police said the students had spent the last few days at a ski camp and were on their way back to the Belgian provinces of Brabant, Flanders and Limbourg.
The bus veered and hit a curb, then rammed into a concrete wall in the tunnel, according to police. The front of the bus was heavily damaged and appeared to be wedged against the wall, blocking people from getting out.
“The bus hit the barrier stones on the right side of the road. It then hit the tunnel wall front-on in an emergency stop space,” police said in a statement. “Because of the strong impact the bus was badly damaged and several passengers were trapped in the wreckage.”
Several people had to be freed by rescuers. The highway was closed in both directions to aid in the rescue. Some eight helicopters and a dozen ambulances took victims to hospitals. Dozens of firefighters and police, 15 doctors and three psychologists were called to the scene.
A government spokesman said a crisis center has been set up and an emergency number provided for families.
Belgian media reported that the children were from two towns, Lommel, east of Antwerp, and Heverlee, near Leuven.
The Alpine city of Sierre, near Sion, the capital of Valais, is a gateway to the Val d’Anniviers tourist region and is connected to the Crans-Montana ski resort by funicular railway.
The Top Tours company, based in Aarschot, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Brussels, was in charge of the bus that crashed. A woman who answered the phone at the company’s offices declined to comment.baby jordans
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