Belgium starts day of mourning

Belgium has started a day of national mourning for the 28 people who died in a school bus crash in Switzerland, with solemn music filling the airwaves and official buildings lined with flags at half mast.

As a chilly morning fog lifted, the nation of 11 million began preparing for a minute of silence at 11am to mark Tuesday’s crash, which ended the lives of 22 children returning from their “snow classes” in the Alps – a traditional rite of passage in Belgium from childhood to the teenage years.