Hasselt (Brussels Morning Newspaper) -This morning, a school bus transporting St. Martin’s School students and supervisors from Herk-de-Stad halted at a German gas station near Ulm. Students and supervisors from St. Martin’s Schools in Herk-de-Stad embarked on a week-long ski vacation through the Ahrntal in South Tyrol.
A bus holding 67 students and supervisors of Sint-Martinus schools from Herk-de-Stad stopped near Ulm, Germany, this morning before their scheduled journey to South Tyrol ski resort. The student and monitor group, made up of 5th-year students, headed to the Ahrntal region for a week of skiing.
The bus developed injector malfunctions, which led to a repair facility determining complete damage because no replacement parts existed. All students and supervisors need to board the train in Brixen before an alternative bus arrives at 8 p.m. for their travel to the Ahrntal.
“It was around 4:30 this morning that the bus broke down. That was at a gas station next to the highway,”
Says supervisor Hans Haesevoets of the Sint-Martinusscholen in Herk-de-Stad.
“There was a problem with the injectors. The bus was then towed to a repair center, and the plan was to have the vehicle repaired first, but that turned out to be impossible because there were no spare parts available.”
“Bus company Multiobus immediately started looking for another bus. That eventually became a bus from Limburg International,”
Haesevoets continues.
“It will pick us up tonight in Brixen, Italy. We are very satisfied with the approach of Multiobus and we also received a lot of support from our management and the municipal council of Herk-de-Stad.”
“We walked with the students from the recovery center to a small station,”
Haesevoets continues.
“We took the train to Ulm. We are now sitting in a fast food restaurant, at the expense of the bus company.”
“We will soon be leaving, also by train, for Brixen, Italy. The replacement bus will pick us up there around 8 o’clock tonight. That is only about 50 km from our final destination, the Ahrntal. At first, we were afraid that we would have to spend the night somewhere along the way, but that turned out not to be necessary,”
Haesevoets concludes.
What is the background of the Sint-Martinus Schools’ ski trip incident?
Sint-Martinus schools from Herk-de-Stad in Belgium send their fifth-year students on yearly ski vacations as part of their extra-curricular program. A group of 67 students and supervisors travelled to the Ahrntal ski resort area in South Tyrol, Italy, for a 7-day ski holiday.
The group started their journey in the early morning hours while riding a Multiobus transport bus. Such educational journeys maintain their place as a tradition by giving students a chance to try winter sports along with group-building experiences.
Research has shown that the mountainous Ahrntal near the Italian Alps exists about 700 kilometres from Herk-de-Stad, demanding significant road travel.
Long-distance journeys involving older vehicles occasionally result in bus breakdowns but remain a rare occurrence during the trip. The challenge of handling school trip logistics became evident during the Incident near Ulm, Germany, where unforeseen problems confronted the organisers.
