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At least 22 children were killed in Switzerland after their bus crashed on the way home from a ski trip. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated at 6:06 p.m. ET: SION, Switzerland/HEVERLEE, Belgium -- A torchlight march. Ravioli and meatball dinners. Rides in a funicular railway. A sing-a-long and a dress-up casino evening.
Those were some of the things that made last week "mega-cool" for 24 sixth graders at the St. Lambertus school in a hotel in Saint-Luc, high in the Swiss Alps.
The good times turned tragic Tuesday when their bus, which also carried kids from a second Belgian school, crashed inside a Swiss tunnel on its way home. Twenty-two youngsters from the two different schools died, along with six adults.
The dead included "teacher Frank," who had set up the native-language Dutch blog that had kept parents and schoolchildren who stayed home informed about all the fun.
On Wednesday parents were flown to Switzerland to find out whether their children were still alive. Sixteen St. Lambertus students were confirmed to have survived, but the fate of eight others was unknown, at least to their families.
Nine days earlier, they had left for the holiday of their school lives in the snow-covered Alps of Switzerland, an annual highlight for St. Lambertus kids. The school is a typical, small Roman Catholic institution of some 200 pupils in Heverlee, on the outskirts of the old university town Leuven, and represents the broad mix of social classes of the municipality.
The week began flawlessly.
"This is our first blog posting," wrote Frank Van Kerckhove, the teacher who set up the blog. "The bus trip was very smooth. There was little traffic. We watched the movie Avatar (and) no one became car sick on the climb" into the Alps.
PhotoBlog: Grief, disbelief as Belgian schoolchildren learn of crash that killed classmates
In the days that followed, the youngsters posted about their vacation with youthful exuberance.
"This afternoon we had soup and ravioli, very delicious," one girl wrote on March 6.
Relatives of the students were grateful that Van Kerckhove, one of six adults who died in the crash, had set up the site.
Most of the victims were 12-year-olds returning from a ski vacation in the Swiss Alps. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
"The blog was incredible. It had so many great pictures," said Anne De Roo, whose three children are former students at the school. The fate of her nephew was now uncertain.
"He constantly gave us news about what happened, the sked of the day," she said of Van Kerckhove. His last words came down to 'we see you back soon,'" she said.
The kids would blog under Van Kerckhove's tutelage.
"Today was totally the best. The adventurous walk was tiring, but mega-cool," one girl wrote. "We won first prize for cleanest room. Tomorrow it's going to be colder. Byyyeeee!"
On March 10, another boy wrote: "Things are super here in Saint-Luc. The skiing, the weather, the food. It's not bad at all. Tomorrow I play in the Muppet Show. ... I have seen quite a few dogs. I'm now reading the book 'Why Dogs Have Wet Noses.' Very interesting! I miss you all."
Toward week's end, the posts revealed early signs of homesickness.
"Dear mama and papa. I like it here a lot, but I miss you. Love you. Kisses." And: "Hey, mama, papa ... It is super here and the sun shines the whole day. But I do miss you! XXX."
The posts came with scores of photos the youngsters made during their trip.
On the St. Lambertus school gate Wednesday, staff put up drawings made by students to honor the teacher. "I'll never forget you, Teacher Frank," one read. "You are the greatest ever!"
And outside the school, parents spoke highly of Van Kerckhove. Teary-eyed, some recalled his last post, dated March 11 — the eve of the return trip.
"Tomorrow will be a busy day and I do not know if I can write a blog posting," Van Kerckhove wrote. "But on Wednesday we'll be back, all of us."
'There are no words'
Swiss President Evelyn Widmer-Schlumpf and Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, speaking at a news conference Wednesday in the town of Sion near the crash site, paid tribute to the victims and the 200 rescue workers who pulled injured from the wreckage.
"We are here to understand better, there is consternation. When a drama like this happens, when we lose a child or have a child suffering in hospital, there are no words. It is important to console the families," Di Rupo said.
Twenty-one of the dead were Belgian nationals and seven were Dutch, according to Swiss officials. The Dutch foreign ministry said three Dutch children in the bus were injured. Most children aboard were aged about 12.
Belgium plans to hold a national day of mourning.
About 200 police, firefighters, doctors and medics worked through the night at the scene, while 12 ambulances and eight helicopters took the injured to hospitals in the region.
Widmer-Schlumpf, a mother of three, said that Switzerland was doing everything to support victims and their families.
Olivier Elsig, prosecutor for Valais canton (state), said that video surveillance images from the tunnel, where the speed limit is 100 kmh (62 mph), showed no other vehicle was involved in the accident and the road was dry and in "good condition."
"The bus did not appear to be travelling too fast," Elsig told the news conference. "I immediately ordered an autopsy of the deceased driver."
Police Cantonale Valais / AFP - Getty Images
Rescuers are seen next to the wreckage of a bus after it crashed in a tunnel in Sierre, Switzerland.
The bus had travelled only 15-20 km (10 10 13 miles) from the Swiss ski resort of Val d'Anniviers before entering the tunnel. "The children were all wearing seat belts but the shock of the crash was violent," he said.
There were three possible causes for the crash: a technical problem; the driver may have become ill; or human error, according to Elsig.
About 100 family members, who flew to Geneva from Belgium, were taken by buses to the Valais canton. Some began visiting injured children in Sion hospital, while others were being counseled by psychologists in crisis groups.
A mortuary was set up and bodies were being identified.
Most pupils were from the towns of Lommel and Heverlee in Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region.
A police photograph showed the bus had smashed into the side of a tunnel, with the front ripped open, broken glass and debris strewn on the road and rescue workers climbing in through side windows. It was later towed away from the scene.
Police were alerted to the accident by images on surveillance cameras in the tunnel.
"It gives you chills down the spine. Witnessing such a drama involving children takes away my voice," police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told Swiss television earlier.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The pain for the 22 is gone, but the pain for the families has just started. It is a pain that can't be explained. Pray for them and the souls of the deceased. It is hell on earth for the love ones as it is for anyone in a loss as this. It doesn't matter where we live because the pain is the same. We will only know the answrs when our own demise comes.
May God have mercy on the love ones,
Fran
Did the bus have seat belts for all passengers?
Do busses EVER have seat belts? None that I've ever been in.
All buses in Western-Europe have seatbelts, it's actually the law that you were them and I'm assuming the kids were wearing them since apparently the children sitting in the back came out ok. All children sitting in the front were killed because of the crash; the front of the bus was completely crushed, nobody could have survived that seatbelts or no seatbelts
I'm from the same town as most of the victims; almost an entire secondary school class was wiped out in this accident. Only 6 out 24 might be coming home...can you imagine them going back to school? 6 out of 24?! It's just horrible.
I'm Belgian, and I can honestly say this really hit the nation where it hurts.
Studies show the power of prayer in recovery from sickness or injury. The person who is being prayed for doesn't even have to know it is occurring for it to help. Some posters have said, we cannot help the dead ones and others beseech us to pray for their souls. But one thing is sure, research shows that we can help those still alive by offering our emotional ties (prayer). There are a lot of things that are not understood by man. One is how prayer can work. Maybe there is a human tie between all of us and someday our descendents will be able to unlock the meaning and workings of that tie and use it to talk directly to our fellow man without uttering words.
So very sad. I did like this about the article:
The Belgian ministry of defense said it would make available two aircraft so that the families of the victims could be flown to the crash site later on Wednesday.
I wonder if a bus full of American kids died would we send planes overseas for the parents? Sadly I think I know the answer.
I wonder why the families will be flown to the crash site? I would think the families would be flown to the hospitals or other shelters the injured and dead would have been taken. The Belgian ministry of defense does have the right idea, though, in supplying the aircraft. As to the posters who rage at those who believe in God and pray for the injured and the families of all, my response would be ... nothing. Don't answer. Just say thanks for the post and move on. Arguing serves only to fuel the incendiary nature of their attacks.
Critic, I'm sure you're enjoying all the responses to your post and are grinning from ear to ear with pleasure. But I predict a life of unhappiness and full of criminal behavior with that tude of yours. May a road paver end your miserable blip in time early for you.
Tragedy seems lurking in all parts of the world in the past few days. It certainly does put things into perspective and makes you appreciate your own fortune. Time to give your kids a hug today.
All anyone has to do is read the Bible. It is really that simple to get started Believing and Accepting Christ. Yes the Bible was written by men, but with God as the narrator.
May God be with and comfort these people during their time of grief.
All anyone needs to do is be a good person, have strong positive ethics and appreciate others and wish them positive thoughts during their difficult time. What we don't need is a self righteous proselytizing religious person suggesting that the way one believes and lives is inferior to another's way. Your message while subtle is insulting to intelligence people everywhere.
William- I consider myself a reasonably well read and intelligent person. I don't find the commenter's thots insulting in any way. What I find insulting is for someone to mistate and and mis-characterize what someone says. You did exactly that. Pathetic.
How very sad. I'm not a parent, but I believe this is a phone call a parent NEVER wants to receive. I don't think any caring, loving parent ever wants to bury their child...no matter where they live. My condolences.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families of this terrible accident. Many of whom I know.
A prayer vigil will be held this evening at 20:00 at St. Peter's Church in Leuven, Belgium.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families both of those who have lost children and those whose children were injured.
Wow.
What does this say about the truth of how the troops think the Obama administration is doing!!!
The Sec. of Defense is concerned that his own troops might shoot him.
Moreover, that he asked them to disarm while deployed in a hostile area.
Obama needs to get out of the way and let a true leader return to the White House.
Sum-What does this have to do with such a heartbreaking story. Quit trolling you sicko!
Turn off the AM radio and open another window on the world.
I think perhaps this post belongs with another article. It is totally inappropriate here.
What a horrible way to go. That must have been so scary for them. I wonder what caused it, if it was excessive speed as mimi jaques said above.
May God give them the strength to get thru this.
I pity you both, Critic and The Truth.
Whether you believe in God or not, there is a basic human characteristic called empathy. That is simply expressing a feeling of understanding and identifying with the loss, in this case, experienced by others. A person who is unable to empathize is missing something signficant. A person who lashes out at someone, whether that person is doing so out of a belief in a supreme being or simply because they have a good heart that hurts for others, is a person who probably could not feel at all. There are good people who are good people without feeling a need for a God, there are bad people who profess devotion to a God. It's not religion, it is simply being human. I pity you both, Critic and The Truth. you have none of these characteristics of 'being human'.
Please accept my heartfelt sympathy for your unimaginable loss. May you find the strength to carry on and honor the young lives lost in this terrible accident. It makes no sense that children so bright and filled with wonder could cease to exist so suddenly. The pain is palpable and debilitating, yet the only real choice is to celebrate the lives of the children by making the world a better place to live in from this time forward. Hoping that some manner of peace be yours.
Thoughts and Prayers from NYC.
My heart goes out to all involved. Life is so fragile. :(
Good lord, some of you forgot to drink your sensitivity juice this morning!
What kind of engineer would design and obstruction such as this within the clear zone of on coming traffic. No buffer, no CRT to absorb the impact.
I smell a huge lawsuit coming.
Europe is not the United States. They don't sue over every thing. They seek accountability over money. Plus, their lawyers are not as greedy and immoral as ours are.
Yea, America, always the best at what we do.
Awful. Did the driver have a seizure or something?
Get those damned cameras out of those people's faces. What ever happened to the Golden Rule. Would you want a camera in YOUR face at a time like that?
Wow. You guys need to chill. Arguing on an article about whether God exists or not. Whether you believe he does or not, let's practice some respect for one another and for the content of the article.
It's really sad, ANOTHER bus crash that involves killing children. ):
GOD does exist, although sometimes I don't understand why he doesn't intervene many times, and prevent bad things from happening, many times to the innocent.
The Bible makes it clear bad things happen for several reasons:
1) Our or Others choices. Bad things can happen as a result of poor choices.
2) There is a Enemy that hates GOD, his creation, and man. That Enemy is called SATAN, and he comes to "Steal, Kill, and Destroy."
3) So Bad things can happen as a "Test of Our Faith" to serve a greater purpose. (Read the story of Joseph from the Old Testament.)
4) Bad things can happen as a warning or GOD's Judgement (Sodom & Gomorrah)
We don't always understand the WHY of things, especially when they bring us pain, or seem senseless. But the BIBLE says, "All things work together for good to those that love GOD, and are called according to his purpose.)
Many times out of Tragedy can come good, even through great pain.
May the LORD send his peace in the mist of this sorrow to the families that have lost loved ones.
we need to ban buses too many innocent children are being killed by irresponsible bus owners.
Every single time, people. WHY does it have to happen every time?
Whenever a horrid tragedy happens you all make it the reason to argue about the existence of God. It is selfish and embarrassing. On both sides.
How about putting your attention where it should be…with the families who have lost their child. For those who are suffering the unimaginable.
Stop using these kinds of moments of suffering as a platform for your own agenda. It is flat-out obnoxious. Just say your peace in a supportive manner and move along. And read others' statements of peace - or not, if you can't handle opinions that might not match yours, again, either way - and then move along.
In the mean time, I am sending love to Belgium today in hopes that its people somehow feel - if even ever so slightly - a tiny amount of that support from America as they numbly and heartbreakingly try and move through this unbelievable amount of suffering.