BUDAPEST, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and President Janos Ader both issued statements on Saturday, voicing their sympathy with the families of Hungarian students and teachers killed or injured in a bus crash in Italy.
The government has declared Jan. 23 as an official day of mourning.
"Loss of a young life, of a child, is the worst thing that can happen to any family, community, or nation," Orban said.
He added that he had ordered Hungarian authorities to do their utmost to completely clarify the situation.
Ader said that all of them share in the mourning of the parents, siblings, families and classmates of the victims.
He wished the injured a speedy and complete recovery and expressed his thanks to everyone who had helped in the rescue operation.
Sixteen people, primarily teenagers, died and 26 were hurt when the bus leased by a Budapest secondary school crashed into a motorway pylon and burst into flame just before midnight on Friday.
They were on the way home from a ski vacation in France.
An employee of the company providing the bus, repudiated the reports that it had been driven by a French chauffer.
Two Hungarians drivers were responsible for the bus and both were with the group for the entire time abroad, the employee told local wire service MTI.
They were both experienced drivers. The bus, he said was a German-made Setra with a capacity of 57 passengers and two drivers.
The principal of the Budapest secondary school that leased the bus said that it had been carrying 36 students.
The rest of the 54 passengers known to have been on board were former students, three teachers, and family members of one of the teachers, Principal Gabor Toth said.
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ZAGREB Kemoko Turay Hoodie , June 3 (Xinhua) -- At 7 a.m. on Tuesday Croatian national team left the country carrying a big load of hope that they can do something big in Brazil.
It was 5:55 am when the bus with players and coaches arrived to the Zagreb Airport. You could see on their faces that it was too early for the players.
""You can see that this is not a normal situation for the guys but they will have time to sleep on the plane. It's a long flight to Brazil,"" Coach Niko Kovac said before the flight that took the Croatian team to Lisbon and from there to Salvador where Croatians set their Brazilian base.
It was not only players that were sleepy. It was too early for the supporters to gather in a large numbers. Only few came to wish their idols good luck and for them it was easier to get an autograph or just shake hands with the players.
Niko Kovac was already thinking about the next few days before the team's last preparation match against Australia on Friday in Salvador. Interesting Quincy Wilson Hoodie , Croatia played a friendly match against Socceroos before the 1998 World Cup and beat Australia 7-0.
""That was in 1998. Today's football is different. You have to work hard to beat anybody just by one goal,"" the Croatian coach said.
Still Malik Hooker Hoodie , it will be a good omen if Croatians beat Australians again. It will give them a psychological boost before the World Cup opener against Brazil.
""We will have a few days of light practices because we have to get used to the Brazilian climate. Then we'll take on Australia and after that we will turn our focus to the match against Brazil,"" he said.
This is the match that every player dreams of playing.
""I still don't have the lineup for the match against Brazil. We will give a chance to majority of our players against Australia and will decide about the lineup for Brazil.""
""We know everything about the Brazilian team. They will play two more friendly matches that we will analyze and see if they did some changes. Personally Braden Smith Hoodie , I don't expect to see anything new,"" Kovac added