On the BBC news this morning: a Belgium bus crashed last night in the Sierre tunnel on the autobahn in Wallis / Valais. The bus was returning a group of children from a skiing holiday. 28 dead of which 22 are children.

http://map.search.ch/d/jy0yzmynd.html

http://www.20min.ch/news/kreuz_und_q...opfer-21815180

After colliding with the tunnel wall, the bus crashed inside the tunnel into an emergency safety room.

Christ, 22 kids that's terrible. Very sad.

Absolutely horrific. Hearts and sympathies to all those who lost loved ones.

What a waste of young lives.

what a horrible nightmare.

7 helicopters airlift some survivors to Bern and Lausanne. It was a returning Belgium school skiing holiday, about 50 passengers, the 2 drivers on the coach are both dead. 24 children wounded.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643

What a terrible thing to happen.

So many Belgian schools organise school ski trips at this time of year and the coach travel was always the thing that worried the parents the most.

I have friends with kids at the school in Heverlee but fortunately for them they weren't on this trip.

More info here (in French) http://www.rtbf.be/info/belgique/det...nts?id=7729705

Tragic...The kind of tragedy that will reverberate for Belgians a long time

Unusual circumstances since it wasn't that late, around 2100...Reports that the driver suddenly veered off the road and into the wall?...Fell asleep?...Heart attack?...Can you imagine getting that phone call in the evening about your children?

Wow, how horrible

Just saw it..........horrible pictures:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ach-crash.html


I wonder how many days it will be before The Local write about it


cheers
SC

Too many bad news yesterday.

The pictures of the bus are unbelievable. It looks as though a can opener rammed into it. Words fail....

What a pity! Blessing the families who lost their children!

Tragic and so so sad, my heart goes out to the parents and families and rescuers.

It begs the question, how can you have a full 90° angle on the wall where you have the emergency fire exit? Where are the steel barriers that would have re-directed the bus back into the lanes rather than slamming into the wall at 100kph or at least where are the yellow crash barrels?

Yes, I know that this was just after an emergency stop zone but the poor design/safety adaptation of the tunnel cost 28 lives. There was no need for this.

And according to Belgian TV, the parents do not even know if their child is alive or dead as the children were not carrying any ID (I imagine that the teachers had all of the ID cards). It will take some time to then identify all of the children.

Link to video: http://www.24heures.ch/suisse/faits-...story/24850668

Words fail.
RIP & thoughts to those left behind.

Unbelievable tragedy! RIP.

Some of the children are from the region where the head office of the company, in which I worked many years, is located. Many of my former colleagues live in that region and have children of this age. Does someone know is there a list of dead and injured children available somewhere?

Aren't most tunnels like that?

However, I do agree it's a very bad design.

Tom

And now we see what happens when a bus hits the wall at 100 kph. All Swiss underpasses and exits have some sort of protection the ensures that you do not plow into the pillar. This accident has highlighted the urgent need to do the same thing in the tunnels.

That 90° wall turned a "minor" accident, from hitting the walls several times (wrecked up bus, several injuries) into a real tragedy.

No thank-you.