Swiss Officials Investigating Deadly Bus Crash That Killed 2 Canadians

A scenic ride through the Swiss countryside turned into a nightmare for a group of Canadian tourists when the bus they were on lost control and ended up on its side, leaving two dead and at least 28 others injured.

The accident happened Saturday morning outside the village of Reckingen in the region of Valais, near the capital Bern.

A Valais cantonal police spokesman said the bus had 48 Canadian tourists on board when it plunged four metres from the road onto a field and overturned.

Markus Rieder told The Canadian Press that many of the passengers came from Ontario.

“The first information we received was that they were from Montreal, but we’ve been able to identify all the injured and it came out that they were from Ontario,” he said.

Rieder said the tour group was composed mainly of retirees. He declined to give further details of the victims, citing Swiss privacy laws.

The German-registered bus had left the alpine resort of Zermatt in the morning and was headed to Austria.

Video of the crash scene showed the white bus lying on its side in a grassy area by the road.

Peter van Broekhvizen, who operates a hotel in the village where the accident happened, said five helicopters and dozens of police cars and ambulances rushed to help.

“We went by car after the accident and (we saw) the bus was lying on the right side,” said van Broekhvizen, as he described the scene.

“You couldn’t see that the bus was damaged, it was a very new bus,” he added, but soon he realized people were injured, some walking around in a daze.

“They looked very, very upset,” he said.

Van Broekhvizen said the people seemed in shock, one woman even reportedly fainted.

“The neighbours told me she collapsed down and they took her to the hospital because of shock,” he said.

The injured were taken to six separate hospitals in the region.

Rieder said nine people are being kept in hospital to treat injuries he described as moderate.

Pierre-Martin Moulin, deputy police chief for the Valais cantonal force, said a number of the injured have already been released.

“It’s hard to give the conditions, but what I can tell you is out of the other people, some have been able to leave the hospital,” he said.

Hospital officials confirmed 11 passengers were released a few hours following the crash after being treated for minor injuries.

The uninjured passengers were taken to a hotel in the area and given psychological counselling by a care team.

“Also, the Canadian consul is present and she’s there at the moment speaking with the people,” Moulin said.

The rescue service Air Zermatt took the most seriously injured passengers to hospitals in five helicopters.

Swiss police said the cause of the accident was unknown. The road was straight and dry and driving conditions were good.

“There’s a hypothesis now that the driver probably was distracted by a motorcyclist,” Rieder said. “But that hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

In Ottawa, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the bus accident.

“The Embassy of Canada in Berne, Switzerland, has been notified and is following up on the matter with local authorities,” said a Foreign Affairs statement. Canadian consular officials have been sent to help.

The driver and guide were reported to be from Germany.

Relatives in Canada seeking information on Canadian citizens who may have been involved can call Foreign Affairs at 1-800-387-3124 or email sos@international.gc.ca.