Belgium’s King Albert and thousands of mourners attended a memorial service today for victims of last week’s bus crash in a Swiss tunnel that killed 22 children and six adults.
Soldiers in solemn procession bore 15 coffins into a 5,000-capacity hall — a brown one containing the remains of a teacher, and 14 white ones, each containing the body of a 12-year-old pupil.
They were from one of two schools in northern Belgium that shared a bus for a traditional “snow class” holiday in Switzerland. They were returning from that holiday on March 13 when their bus, carrying 52 people back home, slammed into a tunnel wall.
Beyond the dead, 24 children were injured. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
“Is there something worse than parents who lose what they love most?” asked Lommel mayor Peter Vanvelthoven.
A separate service will be held on Thursday for the victims from the other school, in the town of Heverlee.
Six of the victims were Dutch, and King Albert was joined at the service by Dutch crown prince Willem Alexander, Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte.