Belgium's historic city of Leuven holds a church ceremony to honour the victims of last week's tragic bus crash.

Thursday's joint funeral was held to remember the lives of seven of the children who died in the accident, all of whom were aged 11 or 12 and attended the Catholic St. Lambertus school in a nearby town.

Belgium's Prime Minister stood outside the church to welcome international politicians and Belgian monarchs who came to attend the ceremony.

Thousands of residents gathered outside and in the central market square to watch the memorial on large screens.

(SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) MOURNER, KATHLEEN LUYCKX:

"I feel a lot of empathy. I just became a mother myself so as a parent I can really understand that this is incredibly difficult to conquer. There are no words for it, it really is very awful. I hope they will find the courage to get over it. And I hope I will never have to go through this."

A total of 22 children and six adults died when the bus they were riding in crashed into a tunnel in Switzerland on March 13.

The group were on their way back from a skiing trip when the accident happened.

Simon Hanna, Reuters.