# Horrifying bus crash in Switzerland kills 24 children

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrifying-bus-crash-in-switzerland-kills-24-children/615767>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 14, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrifying-bus-crash-in-switzerland-kills-24-children/615767 "2012-03-14T18:55:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrifying-bus-crash-in-switzerland-kills-24-children/615767/1 "2012-03-14T18:55:46Z")

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A bus carrying Belgian schoolchildren home from a ski trip [crashed](http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/14/world/europe/switzerland-bus-crash/index.html?hpt=wo_c2) into a tunnel abutment in Switzerland, apparently at high speed. Four adults and 24 children have been killed, and more children are in the hospital.

The children were all from two [schools](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017745840_apeubelgiumbuscrashblog.html) in Belgium. Three has been difficulty identifying victims, and many parents flew to Switzerland still [unaware](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1189048/1/.html) of whether or not their children had survived.

This story is just so heartbreaking.

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**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrifying-bus-crash-in-switzerland-kills-24-children/615767/2 "2012-03-14T19:32:34Z")

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Yeah terrible, there were a bunch of Dutch children onboard as well, so it’s been in the news all day. Apparantly parents only found out when they showed up at school to pick up their returning kids…insead they got a ‘bad news’ conversation. It has taken most of the day to identify which children got hurt (or worse).

The lead up to the acident is still unclear, it was just the start of the journey and there were two busdrivers on board so ‘sleeping driver’ seems unlikely.

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**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrifying-bus-crash-in-switzerland-kills-24-children/615767/3 "2012-03-15T12:14:24Z")

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> [@polar\_bear](#):
>
> Yeah terrible, there were a bunch of Dutch children onboard as well, so it’s been in the news all day. Apparantly parents only found out when they showed up at school to pick up their returning kids…insead they got a ‘bad news’ conversation. It has taken most of the day to identify which children got hurt (or worse).
> 
> The lead up to the acident is still unclear, it was just the start of the journey and there were two busdrivers on board so ‘sleeping driver’ seems unlikely.

To clarify: the children were from two schools, both Belgian but one near the border with the Netherlands. Seven of the choldren involved have Dutch nationality. One artlicle I read says that the children from one of the schools were at the front of the bus, most of the fatalities are from that school.
