A C-130 transport plane left Sion shortly after 11:00 a.m. and landed at Milan Linate Airport just after noon.

From there, the coffins of sixteen-year-olds Achille Barosi and Chiara Costanzo arrived in the Lombardy capital, that of their peer Giovanni Tamburi in Bologna, while Genoa received the body of almost seventeen-year-old Emanuele Galeppini, a promising golf player.

The state flight then continued to Rome Ciampino, where the body of sixteen-year-old Riccardo Minghetti arrived.

The coffin of Sofia Prosperi, an Italian-Swiss girl who lived in Lugano, was not flown back: the funeral will take place in the Swiss city.

The Italian Ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, announced that the funeral will also be offered to the families at state expense.

Meanwhile, the transfer of the injured teens to Italy continued.

Since January 1, a total of 11 have arrived at the Niguarda Hospital in Milan, seven of whom are in serious condition.

On Sunday afternoon, Kean, a sixteen-year-old student at Milan’s Virgilio High School, was brought from Zurich.

He had been staying in the Swiss town with Francesca, who is also hospitalised in the Milan hospital’s Major Burns Centre.

“The last three patients remain in Switzerland, being monitored by our team and Swiss medical personnel,” explained Massimiliano Borzetti, team leader of the Civil Protection department in Crans-Montana.

These patients are in critical condition: “We will evaluate them in the coming days; it’s important that they are fit for transport,” said Borzetti.

Formal identification of the 40 total victims was completed Sunday evening.

Just as the identification of the Italian dead was completed that morning, Ambassador Cornado said: “Tragedy happens, but this was … an avoidable one: all it would have taken was a little prevention and a modicum of common sense.”

This comment came on the sidelines of a Mass and silent march dedicated to the victims through the streets of Crans-Montana, shortly after the Swiss Confederation announced a day of national mourning for Friday, January 9.

“Man is not made for the night, he is not made for death, but for light,” said the Bishop of Sion, Jean-Marie Lovey.

“We ask for the grace of those who seek light in the face of the eclipse that occurred in Crans-Montana, because it is unbearable to be in the dark.”

After the service, broadcast on two giant screens for the many people gathered outside the church of Saint-Christophe, the procession began.

Several thousand people gathered in an almost unreal silence, broken only by tears.

Then came thunderous applause for the rescue workers, law enforcement officers and firefighters.

Two wings of the crowd allowed them to march right up to the front, between the memorial to the victims and the local scene of the tragedy, largely hidden by white sheets.

“Rescuers, you have witnessed unspeakable horror, the people of Valais will be here,” someone said into the microphone.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Monday that “Italy stands by the families of Swiss victims, who were never left alone.”

“Swiss justice will proceed with determination, the prosecutor assured me,” he told Italian radio.

The French couple who owns the Le Constellation bar have been charged with negligent homicide.

ANSA