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Hunt for clues after fatal coach crash

After leaving the road, the coach fell 250 metres Keystone

Investigators say they have begun questioning survivors of Sunday’s coach crash in southern Switzerland in which 12 people died.

The cause of the tragedy – the country’s worst road accident in almost 25 years – remains a mystery.

Investigating magistrate Dominique Lovey told Swiss radio on Monday that he was pursuing a number of lines of inquiry.

Experts will examine the shattered vehicle to see whether the accident may have been due to a technical fault.

Lovey said the coach, which fell 250 metres, would probably have to be cut in half and lifted by helicopter from the accident scene.

The magistrate also launched a fresh appeal for witnesses who might have seen the crash, which occurred at around 10am on Sunday morning.

The bus, which was climbing towards the Great St Bernard Pass on the border between Switzerland and Italy, slammed through a safety barrier and rolled over several times down a steep slope before dropping into a ravine and coming to rest in a river below the road.

Police in canton Valais said it had been snowing around the pass and the narrow, winding road was wet. But police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said: “We can more or less exclude a skid.”

Serious condition

Six women, five men and a 15-year-old boy died in the crash which took place between the villages of Orsières and Liddes.

Fifteen people survived, including one of the two drivers on board. A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out on the other driver, who died in the accident.

Four of the injured are said to be in a serious but not life-threatening condition in hospitals in Martigny and the cantonal capital, Sion.

Seven victims have now been formally identified, while the five remaining bodies have been transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Lausanne University for DNA matches to be carried out.

Up to 200 rescue workers – including mountain guides, doctors and border guards – were hampered by bad weather and the area’s mountainous topography.

Rescuers had to lower themselves by rope to reach the vehicle, which is owned by the Bernese travel company Marti of Kallnach.

The coach was on its way to Savona in Italy to drop passengers off for a holiday cruise.

The company’s director, Heinrich Marti, said the coach had left Bern on Sunday morning with 24 passengers, two drivers and a hostess.

Crisis centre

A statement on Marti’s website said that the company’s crisis centre was concentrating efforts on offering passengers the best possible medical and psychological help.

“Our joint crisis management group is in close contact with the relevant authorities and doctors on the spot,” the statement added.

Marti said that the coach only went into service last July and that it had barely clocked up 50,000 kilometres.

In a reaction to the accident, Swiss President Samuel Schmid expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Schmid, who is currently on an official visit to Japan, also thanked all those who took part in rescue efforts.

swissinfo with agencies

The Marti company has set up a telephone hotline: 044 655 12 12.
The Valais police telephone hotline number is 0800 112 117.

The coach belonging to the Ernst Marti travel firm was on its way from Kallnach in canton Bern to Savona in Italy.

It picked up passengers in the Bern area, Lausanne and Martigny.

There were 24 passengers, two drivers and a hostess on board.

The travel company and Valais police have set up telephone hotlines.

It is the worst coach accident in Switzerland since 1982 when a German vehicle collided with a train in Pfäffikon, canton Zurich, causing the deaths of 39 people.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR