Head-on crash into tunnel wall killed 28, injured 24 in Sierre, Switzerland (photo, Valais police)
SIERRE / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Valais are trying to piece together the cause of the Tuesday night 13 March accident they are describing as “of an extreme violence”.
Twenty-eight people, 22 of whom were children about age 12, lost their lives in the crash at 21:15 Tuesday night.
Valais police chief Christian Varone immediately informed Belgium’s ambassador to Switzerland, Jan Luykx, who went directly to the scene of the crash to help police contact the families as quickly as possible.
In a Wednesday morning bulletin police provide slightly more detail but the cause of the crash and the high number of deaths and injuries remains baffling for now: the bus veered to the right in the tunnel and into the wall at the end of an emergency pullover area.
The impact was so violent that the front of the bus trapped a number of passengers, who had to be cut out by firefighters. Rescuers have made reference to the high speed at which the bus must have been travelling for the crash to have such an impact, but it is not yet clear if the bus, one of three in a group carrying the Belgian students and adults, was traveling within the speed limit, which is 100kph inside the tunnel.
The accident, which sent 24 people, mainly children, to six hospitals, including the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne and the cantonal hospital in Bern, called on a large number of emergency services: 30 police officers, 60 firefighters from Sierre and Sion, 15 doctors, 100 members of cleanup crews, 12 ambulances, 8 emergency helicopters (Air Glaciers, Air Zermatt, Rega), 3 psychologists who are providing counseling.
Ed. note: RTS, Swiss public radio/television in French, is providing regular updates that include photos of the very badly damaged front of the bus, taken in Sierre Wednesday morning.
The heaviest rainfall in several years in China is putting the new Three Gorges dam to the test. Tuesday 20 July the water flow on the Yangtze River’s upper reaches was monitored at 70,000 cubic metres per second, the highest ever. The dam can be seen sluicing water at an impressive 40,000 m3 per second in a Xinhua photo. The Chinese news agency reports that “The water level rose to 158.86 meters at 10 a.m. Friday, about 13.86 meters above the reservoir’s water-releasing level, said engineers of the reservoir, located in Yichang City, central Hubei Province. As of 2 p.m. Friday, the water level dropped to 158.83 meters and has remained largely stable since. The maximum capacity of the multibillion dollar reservoir is 175 meters.”
Thank you for joining us in 2009 to learn more about the Lake Geneva region in 2009 and we look forward to helping you stay informed in 2010.
Our New Year’s wish for you: rise above it – seek the peaks in your life, just waiting for you to find them.
Image: Ellen Wallace. Canton Valais, Switzerland, changing weather, 31 December 2009 (click on image to view larger)
Switzerland, December 2009
Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday, from the staff and contributors at GenevaLunch, to all our faithful readers.
Thanks to you, our traffic has grown fourfold in 12 months, and we are now the best-read source of news online in the Lake Geneva region in Switzerland.
Ed. note: we will be reducing our regular news coverage for the next two weeks, but running several features to keep you happy.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and his family have posted a Federer Christmas card with a family photo, answering requests from fans for another look at the twin girls born in July, taken by Robbie Federer. Within a short time more than 300 comments had appeared.
Background, GenevaLunch
