Ski trip coach crash kills 28

A ski coach crash in Switzerland has killed 28 people, including 22 children.

Another 24 children were injured in the accident in the canton of Valais, near the border with Italy, last night.

The bus was returning children from a skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps to the Belgian villages of Lommel and Heverlee when it crashed into the wall of a tunnel. Both drivers were killed.

In Brussels, the Belgian foreign ministry said most of the children were aged around 12, and the bus was one of three hired by a Christian group, the AFP news agency reports.

Some of the injured were later flown by helicopters to hospitals in Lausanne, Berne and other Swiss cities.

Swiss journalist Ruth Seeholzer told the BBC that some 300 rescuers were working at the scene of the crash.

She said that the two-lane tunnel was not busy with traffic when the accident happened and driving conditions were normal.

Police described the crash as "unprecedented" and an investigation is now under way.

It follows a fatal coach crash in February killing a British teacher and injuring more than 20 others in northern France as schoolchildren returned to the UK from a ski trip.

With permission from Travelmole