Belgian Govt sends planes to Switzerland after bus accident

[sn26567]

The Belgian Government sends an Airbus A310 to Switzerland to bring the families of the victims of the coach accident that took the lives of 28 Belgian nationals, including 22 children, in Sierre on their return from a ski holiday last night.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo will be on board of the flight.

The Luchtzak Team wishes to express its sincere condolences to the families of the victims, their teachers and school mates.

[regi]

Another news article mentions "2 small airplanes" for the parents.

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/binne ... ie_scholen

Volgens burgemeester Peter Vanvelthoven (SP.A) zullen de ouders in de komende uren naar Melsbroek gebracht worden waar 2 kleine vliegtuigen klaar staan om hen naar Sion in Zwitserland te brengen.

Anyway, a very black, sad day .

[sdbelgium]

The two Embraers will leave around 1pm with the families, prime minister Elio di Rupo, vice-prime minister Steven Vanackere and Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters on board.

[regi]

The pictures say enough, see website:
http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail. ... id=1558996
The pictures look so dreadful.
The coach was a Van Hool, made in Belgium.

Minister Reynders declared that an Airbus could be provided as well. He is now in Vietnam , with that Airbus I suppose?

[globetrotter]

Topic title makes it seem they had asked Airbus to move their headquarters there.

[sn26567]

Airbus A310 CS-TEI from HiFly just left BRU as BAF630 with the families of the victims.

[andorra-airport]

Airbus A310 CS-TEI from HiFly just left BRU as BAF630 with the families of the victims.

To which airport? I guess Sion is not possible with an A310?

[Sabena320]

I guess Geneva as they are now on LSGG APP?

[sn26567]

Airbus A310 CS-TEI from HiFly just left BRU as BAF630 with the families of the victims.

To which airport? I guess Sion is not possible with an A310?

Geneva. Other smaller BAF aircraft will leave later to Sion with the DVI (victims identification), members of the Government and other officials.

[regi]

The 2 Hercules planes have left and are expected soon in Belgium with the remains of the victims.
I think that the mood on board will be sad. The crew performs its job, but I can imagine how sad they feel that they transport the scattered dream of all those parents.
Reports about the first aid workers describe the outmost carnage, and very heavy psychological impact on the rescuers. Just to mention 1 detail: several children who were trapped in the front part of the coach died while the rescuers tried to get them free.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/13266/Busongev ... lgie.dhtml

[Desert Rat]

The coach was a Van Hool, made in Belgium.

A very sad day indeed, i don't know the regulation for the bus seats and how much load they have to sustain to pass the certification.

But in aviation the 9G crash test certification has been escalated to 16G...a similar move in the road transport industry might save life in the future.

Condolences to the poor parents, relatives and friends.

[regi]

The coach was a Van Hool, made in Belgium.

A very sad day indeed, i don't know the regulation for the bus seats and how much load they have to sustain to pass the certification.
But in aviation the 9G crash test certification has been escalated to 16G...a similar move in the road transport industry might save life in the future.
Condolences to the poor parents, relatives and friends.

I don't know all the details. But reports mention that belts were on. And...that every seat had come lose by the impact. Many injuries are leg/hip trauma's because all seats were pushed against eachother. And the children's leggs were mangled between the steel tubes of the seats. ( my excuses if I would shock or offend somebody by the vocabulary, or because I go into technical details at this day of national mourning )
Question is: how far do we want to go with the safety? An obvious answer would be "so far that such a disaster can never happen again"
It seems now that the attachment of the seats is the weak spot. Not difficult to strengthen that. But than there will be problems with the weight, or the crumble zone, ...
To come back to aviation: the same seat problem has been handled by several solutions. Most interesting is the design of the flexible seat, so that it can tilt forward to absorb the impact force, but in a controlled matter.

[regi]

The casualties are home:
http://www.vandaag.be/binnenland/92657_ ... racht.html