The wreckage of the Belgian tourist bus is towed outside the tunnel of the motorway A9, in Sierre, western Switzerland last night Source: AP

Belgium on Wednesday held a national day of mourning after a bus crash killed 28 Belgians in Switzerland. 22 of the victims were schoolchildren. Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and called on the emergency Cabinet meeting to declare Wednesday the 14^th a national day of mourning. The same day, the European Parliament observed one minute of silence for the victims during a plenary session in Strasbourg , France . Other European institutions and world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, also offered their condolences to the victims’ families.

Some 52 passengers aboard a bus returning to Belgium from a skiing holiday camp smashed into a wall inside a motorway tunnel in Sierre, in the canton of Valais, on Tuesday night. Passengers were mostly children around 12 years of age. The cause of the accident has not been determined. According to initial indications the bus was not traveling at a high speed when the crash occurred.