Belgians and Dutch bury bus crash dead

ON A crisp, sunny day in Flanders, the sky blue and the air clear, Belgians and their Dutch neighbours gathered in their thousands to remember the deaths of 22 children and six adults in last week’s bus crash in Switzerland.

The Belgian town of Lommel, near the Dutch border, was at a standstill yesterday morning as large crowds made their way on foot or special bus for an emotionally fraught memorial service in a sports arena.

A local primary school lost a teacher, an administrator and 15 pupils in the disaster, six of them of Dutch nationality.

They were returning from a ski trip in the Swiss Alps when, for reasons still unknown, their bus slammed head on into a tunnel wall. “The whole of Belgium is saddened, as is the Netherlands,” said Flemish television presenter and singer Bart Peeters, who presided over the ceremony.

It took 45 minutes for military pallbearers wearing white gloves to carry 14 white coffins and the teacher’s coffin inside, with the families following behind in procession. Save for a jet overhead and a sombre piano inside the hall, not a sound was to be heard.

The soldiers laid out the coffins in a semi-circle around the podium, underneath photos and handprints of the deceased. By their side they placed photos of another child, who is being buried separately, and of the administrator, who has already been buried.

This was a day for community and country to remember their dead: Kor (aged 12); Roma (11); Amy (11); Jennifer (12); Michiel (12); Emily (11); Emma (11); Joren (11); Emma (12); Luc (11); Kevin (11); Nicolas (11); Bart (11); Eline (11); Ilana (11); Ms Veerle (37) the administrator; and the teacher, Meester Raymond (53).

Samen sterk – together we are strong – read the legend above the podium. About 5,000 people crammed into the hall, many thousands more remaining outside to watch the proceedings on large television screens.

Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte attended, as did Swiss president Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council. Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Maxima, were also there.

The mayor of Lommel, Peter Vanvelthoven, accompanied King Albert II and Queen Paola into the hall, where they commiserated with the families.

Song, dance and stories followed. Siblings and parents read tearful tributes, remembering their children’s joy on the ski trip, their nicknames, hobbies, habits and other happy things in their lives.

Evy Laermans, the bus driver’s widow, said he had planned to give up driving soon. He had promised to show her the beautiful places he had seen in his driving career once he retired.

Bart Peeters said the parents shared a sense of consolation that the children remain with their teacher, adding that the adult victims should not be forgotten. Peeters said the parents also wanted to acknowledge the suffering of other families who had lost children.

At the end, soldiers carried the coffins to a convoy of awaiting hearses for private family funerals. A memorial service takes place today in Heverlee, the other Flemish town to lose children in the crash.