Belgium said it would hold a national day of mourning tomorow for 22 children and six adults killed in a bus crash in Switzerland, as parents of the victims and the first of the survivors made their way home.
Of the 52 passengers on the bus, which was carrying school groups from the Belgian towns of Heverlee and Lommel home from a ski trip when it crashed into the wall of a tunnel on Tuesday night, only 24 survived. Some were still in critical condition today.
The bodies of the passengers killed, most of whom were about 12 years old, were all taken to the Swiss town of Sion near the site of the accident to be identified.
"The identification process is being carried out one family at a time, and this is, as you can imagine, a moment of intense pain which can take very long," Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo told a news conference.
Mr Di Rupo was among the ministers, lawmakers and schoolchildren who signed a book of condolence at the Belgian federal parliament today.
Swiss authorities said identifying the victims was so difficult in some cases additional DNA testing was required. By late today, only 19 had been formally identified.
Six children who survived with minor injuries were returning home today, the Belgian authorities said. A Swiss hospital spokeswoman said a further two were also on their way.
Officials said other surviving children would be able to return home if Swiss doctors determined their condition was stable. Four children were described as badly injured, with three of them in a critical state.
The Belgian cabinet has cancelled a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to mark the day of mourning. A minute of silence will be observed around the country at 10am and flags flown at half-mast.
Three Belgian military Hercules C130 planes arrived at Sion airport to fetch the identified bodies.
Swiss authorities were carrying out an autopsy on the bus drivers' bodies to see if they might yield clues to the cause of the accident.
Yves Mannaerts, director of the Belgian coach operators' association, told a news conference the drivers had had enough rest, having arrived in Switzerland on Monday evening. Neither had drunk alcohol, he added.
"There is no question of it. On that issue, the contact with the Swiss authorities has been clear - there was no problem," Mr Mannaerts told a news conference.
He also said rumours that the drivers were retired truck drivers was not true. They were born in 1960 and 1977, he said.
Christian Varone, chief of police of the Swiss canton of Valais, where the accident took place, said for the moment that many theories were possible and that police would take into account witness statements from surviving children.
Reuters