Hungarians in mourning after horror coach crash

Budapest : Hungary was on Sunday mourning 16 people killed when a coach carrying  teenagers home from a skiing trip crashed in Italy.

The mass of flowers, candles and messages for the victims of Friday's tragedy continued to grow outside the children's school in central Budapest, which is getting ready to welcome students back on Monday.

The tragedy occurred when the coach crashed into a bridge pillar on a motorway near the northern Italian city of Verona, then burst into flames. 

But investigators probing the cause of the crash have found no sign that the driver braked before the collision. 

Some victims were catapulted out of the bus on impact but mostly they perished inside. Those who escaped did so by desperately smashing windows and leaping out.

The crash has shocked Hungary which will hold a national day of mourning on Monday. 

Late on Saturday, several hundred people gathered outside Budapest's Pal Szinyei-Merse secondary school in freezing temperatures to silently pay their respects as scores of tiny candle flames flickered.

"I spent many happy years here," said 24-year-old Timea Deutsch, who left the school five years ago. 

"It's tragic."