News
28 Dead in Coach Car Crash
March 14, 2012 Nicola  |
A coach carrying Belgian school children has crashed in Switzerland killing six adults and 22 children and leaving 24 injured.
The children from the Belgian towns of Lommel and Heverlee were returning home after a skiing holiday when the coach carrying 52 people hit a wall in a tunnel on Tuesday evening.
The accident has cost the lives of 22 children aged around 12, both of the coach’s drivers and two other adults.
According to Swiss prosecutor Olivier Elsig, the bus collided with the right-hand wall and then hit, head-on, a concrete wall that forms part of an emergency access section. The reason behind the crash and subsequent loss of life is as yet unclear as the bus was new and equipped with safety belts and conditions on the road were normal. However, an investigation is underway for further details.
Authorities reacted quickly to the accident. More than 200 people and eight helicopters were involved in the rescue operation to save the injured and Belgium has provided relatives with two aircrafts to take them to Switzerland and a helpline has been set up for families.
Belgium’s ambassador to Switzerland, Jan Luykx, has already travelled to the crash site. He has said that the enormity of what has happened is hard to comprehend, telling BBC reporters: “This tragedy will hit the whole of Belgium. The magnitude of the accident is difficult to take in. For the moment I am concentrating on the practical aspects. The emotional side will come when we meet the families.”
By Kate Wilson
[Image courtesy of randomduck]
