Swiss tourist bus plunges 800 feet into ravine

A Swiss tourist bus plunged into an Alpine ravine near the Great St Bernard Pass yesterday, killing 12 people and injuring 15, four of them seriously, police said.

Fourteen people survived because they had been thrown from the bus when it went out of control for still unknown reasons, police in the canton of Valais said.

“We can more or less exclude a skid,” said police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet.

It had been snowing around the Great St Bernard pass – a main route through the western Alps near the borders of France and Italy – but the narrow, winding road was only wet when yesterday’s accident occurred, police said.

The bus, which was climbing toward the pass, slammed through a safety barrier and rolled over several times down a steep slope before dropping into the ravine and coming to rest in a stream, La Drance d’Entremont, 800 feet below the road, police spokesman Renato Kalbermatten said.

Rescuers descended by rope into the ravine and saved a 15th person from the wreckage, but the rest of the bus occupants were killed.

It was the worst bus accident in Switzerland since 1982, when 39 people were killed when a train hit a German tour bus.

Experts will examine the wreckage in an attempt to determine whether there was a technical problem, police said.

Those killed included six women, five men and a 15-year-old boy, investigative magistrate Dominique Lovey told reporters.

About 160 rescuers – including mountain guides and climbers – took part in the rescue operation, police said. The use of a helicopter was limited because of fog, but it was able to help rescuers get to the bottom of the ravine.

The bus was based in the Swiss capital, Bern, and was taking passengers to Savona in north-west Italy, where they were to board a Mediterranean cruise ship, bus company manager Heinrich Marti said.

There were 24 passengers, two experienced drivers and an attendant on board, Marti said. The bus left its base near Bern at 6am local time (4am Irish time) and picked up passengers at stops along the way.

The accident occurred before 10am local time (8am Irish time).