A Flemish student was welcomed by Italian ice hockey fans on Saturday evening after the bus with her classmates left without her. “We stayed with her until the bus came back an hour later to pick her up.”
Sunday April 7, 2024 at 5:59 PM
The Italian supporters of the Varese ice hockey team, near the Swiss border, were returning from a match against Pergine. “We lost,” Elisa, who was on board, told Het Nieuwsblad. “But the fact that we were able to help a Belgian girl afterwards made our day.” (read more below the photo)
The young Flemish student noticed when she emerged from the toilets of a motorway restaurant near Lake Garda that the bus had left without her. Presumably the counting was not done correctly when boarding.
“When we stopped there to stretch our legs, go to the toilet and have something to drink, we found her in complete panic,” Varese supporter Elisa told our editors. “My mom saw her first and brought her to me because I was the only one on the bus who spoke good English. The girl told me that her cell phone and all her personal belongings were on the bus. She couldn’t make the call, she couldn’t prove who she was.”
Elisa offered her phone. “But the girl didn’t know any of her classmates’ numbers by heart, so she couldn’t call anyone.” The Italians called the police, who arrived very quickly because the girl was underage.
Right turn
“She knew her dad’s number by heart, so she could call him. He was able to reach people on the bus, who then turned around to pick her up.” In total she was on her own for an hour. “We kept waiting until the bus got back to her. We didn’t have the heart to leave her alone, and everyone on the bus agreed.”