worst crash in Swiss history, many children killed.

[Lady Cop]

what a horror! and i imagine the death toll could rise. :(

22 children and six adults killed plus dozens injured after 'speeding' bus crashes in Swiss tunnel as they return home from school ski trip
28, including the 22 children, killed after bus 'veered and hit a curb, then rammed into a concrete wall in the tunnel'
Coach was one of three carrying Belgian schoolchildren home from skiing holiday in Italy
Most of the children killed were aged just 12 years old
Police: 'Tragedy is worst road traffic accident in Swiss history'
Dozens more were injured in the smash, which came as a school party of 52 returned from an Alpine skiing holiday to the villages of Lommel and Heverlee in the Flemish region of Belgium.

Photographs showed the bus rammed up against the side of the tunnel, the front ripped open, broken glass and debris strewn on the road and rescue workers climbing in through side windows.

The cause of the crash has yet not been determined.

photos from daily mail













Bloodstains can be seen down the side of the wrecked vehicle as it is towed away

[Midwest Spy]

I think most parents fear that something like this could happen to their kids when they put them on a bus (whether it be school bus or a field trip). What a nightmare.

[JsMom]

How horrible! RIP :: s

[username]

Oh.my.God.

I'm not sure about that bus, but I'm pretty sure our school buses don't have seat belts. Why??

[Lady Cop]

Oh.my.God.

I'm not sure about that bus, but I'm pretty sure our school buses don't have seat belts. Why??

i did a long post about the rationale for that a year or two back, and now i can't remember the answer. i googled the laws/info.

[username]

Oh.my.God.

I'm not sure about that bus, but I'm pretty sure our school buses don't have seat belts. Why??

i did a long post about the rationale for that a year or two back, and now i can't remember the answer. i googled the laws/info.

http://durhamregion.typepad.com/question...chool.html

Well, I found this but it doesn't entirely convince me. With current technology, we ought to be able to design a universal type of seat belt/restraint.

[sally]

That's horrific. By the look of the bus I'm not sure how much good the seatbelts would have done anyway.

The only time I've been in a tunnel like that was in Switzerland. I think the speed limit was 80 which was a bit scary.

[crash]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think those tour coaches/school buses are all speed limited to 75 km/h on European autobahns (indicated by the 75 in the red circle on the rear bumper)...I guess that doesn't mean that the limiter wasn't tampered with or was faulty. And at the end of the day, 75km/h is still pretty quick when something the size of a bus comes unstuck. They're not that structually bulletproof either; mainly made of light steel and fibreglass/plastics these days.

Made me squeeze my kids a little tighter last night that's for sure...

[pspence]

OMG. What a horrific tragedy. Those poor children and families. Thanks for sharing LC>

[Lady Cop]

more photos of aftermath today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...wheel.html

[Duchess]

It's difficult to see the faces of the adults/parents. Their grief manages to cross the internet.

[Lady Cop]

photos of deceased children at link.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...wheel.html

[Lady Cop]

awful awful





A military brass band pays tribute as the coffins of children and teachers who were killed in a deadly bus crash in Switzerland are displayed in a hangar at Melsbroek, Belgium


more photos
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z1pIWLjBAr

[Duchess]

Little coffins.

[ramseycat]

Little coffins.

I know. That has to be the worst pic to see. This just breaks my heart.

[Mohammed]

Deja Vu.

Our house in Germany is not far from the Autobahn along a small bridge, and some years back we heard a big crash in the night. As we walked to the bridge we had children coming walking towards us crying their eyes out. They where on the way to a skying holiday when their bus lost control and fell down the side of the bridge.

One of them died but plenty injured. It was one hell of a long night. Horrid memory and it so just came back of that little girl coming walking towards me shaking with shock.

[Lady Cop]

Thousands of mourners including Belgium's King Albert today remembered the 28 victims of last week's bus crash in a Swiss tunnel during a memorial service.

Under a sparkling sky, soldiers took part in a solemn procession that carried 15 coffins into a 5,000-capacity hall in Lommel in north-east Belgium.

The brown casket contained the remains of a teacher, the 14 white ones held the bodies of children who were on the cusp of their teenage years.