On Wednesday morning, parents in two Belgian towns had expected to welcome back their children after a skiing trip to Switzerland. But the coach with 46 children never arrived. People in Belgium and Switzerland reacted with shock as news spread that the bus with pupils from two schools had crashed into a tunnel wall in Switzerland. Twenty-two children and six adults - four teachers and two drivers - were killed.
The 11-and 12-year-olds had proudly received skiing certificates just before boarding the bus. "Everyone can ski now. Everybody is able to use the T-bar lift," they had written in their online diary during their stay in the Val d'Anniviers skiing region in western Switzerland.
"The report about our last day, plus trip, plus arrival home, plus photos, will follow as soon as possible after our return," the children of the 't Stekske school in Lommel wrote. It took several hours before the 't Stekske school as well as Sint Lambertus in Heverlee had deleted pictures of children playing in the snow. King Albert II and Queen Paola drove to Zaventem airport to comfort victims' parents who were leaving for Switzerland.
"One can see tears of joy from those parents who hear that there children are still alive," said Dirk De Gendt, a Heverlee town official. But many parents were not so lucky, and uncertainty over the fate over their children put family members under mental stress for hours. At the Sint Lambertus schoolyard, friends and family of victims grieved, many holding back tears or trying to comfort each other. Children painted pictures for their friends, siblings and fellow pupils.
"We support you," someone had written on one of the pictures. "These were children in the sixth grade who had their whole future ahead of them," Lommel's mayor Peter Vanvelthoven said. "And now this future is suddenly gone." In Switzerland, the crash strained the resources of the 200 emergency workers who rushed to the accident site near the town of Sierre. They found the road strewn with children's clothes, while the victims were trapped inside the mangled bus.
"It was like being in a war," regional police chief Christian Varone said. "We have never experienced such a large number of young victims. We are completely distressed." Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said she was "very upset and shocked" when she heard of the disaster and offered her condolences to family members and the Belgian people.