Belgium mourns bus crash victims

Tributes are laid in honour of 22 children and six adults killed in a bus crash in Switzerland.

The vehicle was carrying school groups from the Belgian towns of Heverlee and Lommel back from a ski trip when it crashed into the wall of a tunnel on Tuesday night.

24 passengers survived.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOMMEL RESIDENT, COR WEVERS SAYING:

"There are no words for this. There is only silence. We can hope that the parents and the grandparents become better after some time. But I think this will last twenty years."

Belgium is holding a national day of mourning on Friday with flags across the country flying at half mast.

The EU also honoured the dead, which includes six Dutch children.

In the Swiss Alpine town of Sion two Belgian military planes flew home the bodies on Friday.

Lily Grimes, Reuters