Switzerland’s deadliest coach crashes killed dozens
Friday 11th September 2026 on 08:45 in
Switzerland
Several people died in a coach crash in Susch, in the canton of Graubünden. SRF looks back at some of Switzerland’s deadliest coach accidents in recent decades.
13 March 2013: Crash in Sierre, 28 dead
A Belgian coach hit a tunnel wall on the A9 motorway near Sierre in the canton of Valais. Twenty-eight people died, including 22 Belgian and Dutch children, their teachers and the two bus drivers. Twenty-four others were injured, three of them seriously.
It was Switzerland’s deadliest coach crash in around 30 years.
16 September 2006: Collision in the Viamala Tunnel, nine dead
A collision involving a coach and two cars in the Viamala Tunnel on the A13 motorway between Thusis and Andeer killed nine people.
The bus was carrying 23 members of the GDT Bellinzona ice hockey club team to a match in Uzwil, in the canton of St Gallen. Twenty-one people escaped from the bus. The Viamala Tunnel has no escape tunnel.
17 April 2005: Coach crash at the Great St Bernard Pass, 12 dead
Twelve people were killed and 15 others, some of them seriously, were injured in a coach crash near the Valais municipality of Orsières.
The coach left the road on the northern side of the Great St Bernard Pass between Orsières and Liddes. It overturned several times on a steep slope before falling about 200 metres over a steep rocky ridge into a gorge. Several passengers were thrown from the vehicle.
25 July 1992: Bus crash at the Nufenen Pass
Six German tourists and one American were killed in a serious bus crash on the Ticino side of the Nufenen Pass. The bus was carrying 49 people.
It plunged about 10 metres at a hairpin bend, overturned and finally landed on its roof. Around 30 passengers were injured.
12 September 1982: Train hit coach in Pfäffikon, 39 dead
A train crashed into a coach in Pfäffikon in the canton of Zurich because a manually operated barrier had not been closed. The vehicle was torn apart and 39 people died.
It was Switzerland’s deadliest accident involving a railway in 100 years.