Grief-stricken relatives of those killed in a horrific bus crash inside a Swiss tunnel earlier this week were taken to identify the bodies Thursday, police say.
Relatives were driven from a hotel in the Swiss town of Sion to a nearby morgue where the bodies of 22 school children and six adults killed in Tuesday's crash were being held ahead of repatriation.
"Where possible the bodies will be shown to the families," police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said. "In some cases this is not possible because the bodies are too badly injured."
"The families are there to identify the bodies and to give information to help in the formal identification of those who cannot be identified" visually, a police spokesman told AFP.
Some of the bodies are to be repatriated to Belgium Thursday, he confirmed.
The bus from Belgium was carrying 52 people when it hit a wall inside the Tunnel de Geronde about an hour after heading home from a skiing trip in the Swiss Alps, killing 21 Belgians and seven Dutch passengers.
Twenty-four other children were hurt in the crash, some suffering serious injuries.
In Belgium, efforts were being made to repatriate the injured and killed as early as Thursday.
Police are focusing on three potential causes of the crash that include mechanical failure, a health issue with the driver or human error, CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne reported Wednesday.
Swiss and Belgian media reported Thursday that survivors of the crash claimed the driver had reached to change a disc on the onboard entertainment system shortly before the crash.
It was unclear whether that could have contributed to the crash. Neither police nor prosecutors could be reached for comment.
Residents in the town of Sierre where crash occurred were shocked over the tragedy and the fact most of the victims were children.
"I am very sad because I have children and today I awoke with them and I think very strongly about these people because it's really very hard," said pharmacist Genevieve Romailler.
"It's very hard to come to terms with this kind of situation and even if we didn't know these young victims we are really taking this to heart and we really moved by this tragedy," said barman Franck Bartolucci.
A Catholic church in the town was opened for the public to pay their respects and a memorial mass was planned for Thursday night.
Thursday 15 March 2012
http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20120315/families-swiss-bus-crash-identify-bodies-120315.html
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