Europe's heartache over deadly Swiss bus crash
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E-mail Xinhua, March 15, 2012
"The bus trip was very smooth. There was little traffic," read the Dutch blog nine days ago by "Teacher Frank", who was killed in a bus crash Tuesday night together with five other adults and 22 pupils.
The worst road accident in 30 years in Switzerland left 28 dead and 24 injured when the bus crashed into the wall of a tunnel in Swiss mountains.
It carried mostly 11-or-12-year-old kids back from an annual skiing trip in the resort of Saint Luc in Val d'Anniviers.
Prior to the accident, they had had great adventures as noted by the blog set up to share all the fun with their parents and schoolmates back in Belgium. They watched Avatar on the bus, they tried ravioli and meatball dinners, and they had a dress-up casino evening, etc.
Throughout Tuesday night, hundreds of policemen, firefighters and medical staff kept working as the front third of the vehicle was horribly wrecked, while ambulances and helicopters hurried to bring the injured to nearby hospitals.
On Wednesday morning, the bad news spread to the towns of Lommel and Heverlee in the Belgium's Flanders region, where most victims came from, as well as to the rest of Europe.
Among the dead, 21 were Belgian and seven were Dutch, while the injured group included three Dutch, one Polish and one German.
Dozens of bouquets of roses and tulips were placed by local people both in front of the entrance to the tunnel and the entrances to the two schools.
Thousands of Europeans as well as people from across the world expressed their sorrow on the Internet, via twittering posts, blogs and comments a few hours after the deadly accident.
"Nothing is sadder than the death and suffering of children. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed on the school coach," said one posting following the breaking news.
The European Parliament observed one-minute silence for the victims during a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, while other European institutions and worldwide leaders including the U.S. President Barack Obama also offered their condolences to the victims and their families.
Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf vowed to make all efforts in supporting the injured and the relatives of the dead, while parliamentarians also stood for one-minute silence.
Over one hundred of heartbroken family members, together with psychologists, arrived in Switzerland on two Belgian military aircrafts on Wednesday afternoon, with some of them anxious to find out if their kid was injured or dead.
"It is a sad day for all of Belgium," said Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, who held a press conference in Brussels in the afternoon before rushing to Switzerland to monitor rescue efforts.
The school trip was coordinated by a Belgian social organization, and two other buses on the same tour came back to Belgium safely.
Swiss mountain regions have a notorious history of deadly car and bus crashes. In 1982, a total of 39 German tourists were killed on a railway crossing when their bus was hit by a train, while in 2005, 12 people were killed in another bus crash in the Valais region.
Swiss investigators have been reported to focus on a driver's error as a possible cause of the accident, without excluding technical fault. Further investigation is still needed.
"Teacher Frank", or Frank Van Kerckhove by his real name, has also posted scores of photos about their trip. On the eve of their return, he wrote, "On Wednesday we'll be back, all of us."
If only all of them had been back home safe and sound on Wednesday.
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