White coffins were loaded into two Hercules transport
aircraft near the Swiss town of Sion and landed at a military
airport near Brussels from where undertakers collected them
after a short ceremony. A third plane returned with their
belongings.

In factories, offices and schools, Belgians stood silent.
Buses, trams and some trains also stopped for passengers to pay
their respects to the victims, most of them 11 and 12 year olds
returning from a school skiing trip.

“The grief is so intense, but this helps,” said one man from
the town of Lommel – home to 17 of those killed – referring to
acts of rememberance across Belgium.

Swiss police continued to investigate how the coach,
carrying 52 passengers, crashed into a tunnel wall on Tuesday
night, but one prosecutor cast doubt on reports in some Swiss
and Belgian media that the driver had been busy loading a DVD
player just before the crash.

Christian Varone, chief of police in the southern Swiss
canton of Valais where the accident happened, said there were
many possible explanations and police would take into account
statements from the child passengers.

FACTORIES FALL SILENT

In Brussels, officials at the European Commission and NATO
headquarters paused to remember the dead and in Ghent, workers
at the Volvo car plant downed tools while cathedral and church
bells rang out across the country.

On Thursday evening, the little church of St Joseph’s in
Lommel was swamped by 2,500 people who came to remember the 15
children and two school staff from the small town who had died.

The town plans a memorial ceremony on Wednesday, to be
attended by members of the Belgian and Dutch royal families.

Flags were flown at half-mast on public buildings across
Belgium, the Netherlands and the Swiss canton of Valais where
the accident happened.

Six Dutch children were killed in the crash and four more
were injured – Lommel is right by the Dutch border. Official
British sources said one of the dead was an 11-year-old with
joint Belgian-British nationality.

Of the survivors, six children with only light injuries
returned to Belgium on Thursday. Six specialised medical planes
were due to bring a further 14 more seriously injured children
back on Friday and four more will stay in Swiss hospitals, three
of them still in a critical condition.

Friday’s national day of mourning is Belgium’s first since
2004, which remembered 24 people killed in a gas explosion near
the town of Ghislenghien.

(Writing by Emma Thomasson; Additional reporting by Michael
Holden, Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Ben Harding)

White coffins were loaded into Hercules transport aircraft near the Swiss town of Sion as police continued to investigate how the coach, carrying 52 passengers, crashed into the wall of a tunnel on Tuesday night.

Belgium is holding a day of mourning to remember the victims, most of them 12 years old, who were returning from a ski trip to the Belgian towns of Heverlee and Lommel.

A minute of silence will be observed around the country at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) and churches and cathedrals planned to ring bells for several minutes after the silence. Radio stations changed their playlists to reflect the somber mood.

Flags were flown at half-mast on public buildings across Belgium, the Netherlands and the Swiss canton of Valais where the accident happened.

Six Dutch children were killed in the crash and a further four were injured. Official British sources said one of the dead was an 11-year-old with joint Belgian-British nationality.

Swiss authorities were carrying out an autopsy on the bus drivers’ bodies to see if they might yield clues to the cause of the accident.

Some Belgian and Swiss media reported that the driver had been occupied loading a DVD just before the crash, saying this is what some survivors had told their parents, but a Swiss prosecutor cast doubt on the theory.

Christian Varone, chief of police of the Swiss canton of Valais, where the accident happened, said there were many possible explanations for the crash and that police would take into account statements from children.

Six children who survived with minor injuries returned home on Thursday, Belgian authorities said. A Swiss hospital spokeswoman said a further two were also on their way, leaving 16 still in hospital, including three in critical condition.

Late on Thursday some 2,500 people attended a wake in and around the little church of St Joseph’s in Lommel, the small town near the Dutch border from where 17 of the dead – 15 children and two school staff – came.

Friday’s national day of mourning is Belgium’s first since 2004, called to remember 24 people killed in a gas explosion near the town of Ghislenghien.

(Writing by Emma Thomasson; Additional reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Ben Harding)

The two female employees of Swissnuclear were taken to
hospital with superficial burns and hearing damage, a police
spokesman said, adding police did not yet know who had sent the
parcel.

Police cordoned off the office of Swissnuclear on the fourth
floor of a building in the northern town of Olten. The police
spokesman said they had forensic specialists on the ground.

Earlier this month, Switzerland suspended the approvals
process for three new nuclear power stations so that safety
standards could be reviewed after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami
damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant. [ID:nLDE72D1EJ]

Swissnuclear says it works to promote the safe and efficient
use of nuclear power and represents Swiss utilities Alpiq
(ALPH.S: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Axpo, BKW (BKWN.S: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), CKW and EGL, which run the nuclear
plants that produce about 40 percent of Swiss electricity.

Olten is also home to the headquarters of Alpiq, where about
50 Greenpeace protestors held a demonstration on Thursday
calling for the company to withdraw its application to build a
new nuclear plant.

A police spokesman said they were examining whether there
was any connection between the explosion and the demonstration.

Greenpeace said it had nothing to do with the attack. “We
are shocked that such action can be used for political purposes.
Greenpeace is committed to non-violent protest,” said energy
campaigner Florian Kasser.

The centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens are calling
for Switzerland to abandon nuclear power after the Japan
disaster but Energy Minister Doris Leuthard has cautioned
against a hasty decision, warning that would mean more gas power
stations which would lead to a rise in carbon emissions.

In 1990, Swiss voters backed a 10-year moratorium on the
building of nuclear power plants but they rejected extending the
freeze in 2003, opening the way for the government to consider
new plants to replace those that need retiring.

Last month, voters narrowly approved the building of a new
plant in Muehleberg to replace the old one there, 20 percent
owned by Germany’s E.ON (EONGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
(Additional reporting by Sven Egenter in Zurich, writing by
Emma Thomasson; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Thousands of opponents of the referendum result marched through Zurich and smashed shop windows, a Reuters witness said. In the capital Berne, there were about 500 protesters, some of whom threw snowballs and bottles at police in front of parliament, officials said.

Fifty-three percent of voters backed a proposal to automatically deport foreigners convicted of crimes including murder, rape or trafficking in drugs or people, according to results carried by Swiss television.

“I don’t regard this as a very good sign for our country,” said Christian Levrat, head of the center-left Social Democrats who opposed the proposal.

Official figures show foreigners make up more than a fifth of Switzerland’s population of 7.7 million.

In the same referendum, 58.5 percent of voters rejected a proposal that would have imposed a minimum cantonal (state) tax on the very rich.

Both results were confirmed in government statements.

The expulsion initiative was put forward by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has mined increasing fear about immigration in recent years to become the country’s biggest political movement.

Last year the Swiss endorsed a ban on construction of new minarets, drawing international condemnation.

“We want those (foreigners) who live in Switzerland to stick to the conventions and rules of the game,” said SVP leader Toni Brunner. He said the vote was a resounding “No” to abuses resulting from immigration.

Critics have said the SVP’s proposal could contravene international anti-discrimination treaties and the free movement of peoples under European Union law. Switzerland is outside the EU, but has accepted the bloc’s code allowing EU citizens to take up residence without special permission.

Under current law, decisions to expel foreigners convicted of serious crimes are made on a case-by-case basis.

A committee would draw up a draft law that minimised any conflict with Switzerland’s international obligations, the government said. The law would then be voted on by parliament.

Turnout on Sunday was 53 percent, above the usual 40 percent in Swiss referendums, Swiss television said.

(Writing by Catherine Bosley; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

Working on this major Swiss story for the past few years and covering all major steps of the construction, we decided to go underground some days before the ceremony, to produce pictures to illustrate preview stories. Our images were very well published in the week before ‘Drilling D-Day’.

While working underground we managed to secure an internet connection, essential to send out our pictures promptly. To shoot the right images is important, but to make them available for clients as soon as possible is the basis of our wire agency business.

As a special event needs special equipment, Arnd built a camera support in order to trigger simultaneously three cameras installed on the same tripod. “I wanted to release two Canon EOS 1 Mark IV cameras with two 16-35mm lenses from the same angle to shoot the moment of the final break through with short and long shutter speeds. In order to fix a 3-D camera it was necessary to build a special plate for the head of the tripod”, he explained.

After talks with officials, it was clear that the number of media representatives would be strictly limited to 40. Among them would be a regular Reuters photographer and a Pool shooter provided by our agency.

Leaving at 6.00am on October 15 from Zurich, we crossed the Oberalp mountain pass and drove to Sedrun, a side entrance of the giant construction site. It was the beginning of a unique adventure trip, a far cry from our daily routine. After taking the funicular up to the Sedrun operation center and getting security equipment, we were welcomed on the first works train and traveled into the heart of darkness. A few minutes later we reached a landmark of engineering: a lift propelling us 800 meters down at the speed of 12 meters
per second. The last stage of our trip was a comfortless train that took us on a rough track some thirty minutes for over four miles to the muddiest and wettest TV stage we had ever encountered.

At 2.00pm local time, the TV super production starring giant drill Sissi started.

A few minutes later, all the key moments were stored on our CF-cards.

Making our way through the crowd, we tried to reach our computers, an arduous run with temperatures reaching 30 centigrade and extremely high humidity in the cavern.

As we had feared, our internet connection died before we could transmit all our production, forcing us to commence a final run to take a train, a lift, a train…… before moving the last images.

For all the tunnel fans, not permitted underground to freeze this historic moment, the 10 hour broadcast provided the possibility to take some nice snaps, from TV screens…

It was, for sure, a trip we will never forget. Never.

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