This was a serious, possibly tragic situation.

It's a tragic situation, ... The president is committed to doing everything he can to see that we can get into a process of discussion, which will bring the violence to an end, bring a cease-fire into place and then get into peace discussions.

This is a very serious situation. It's an aberration, but it's a serious situation.

(It's an) extremely serious situation,

Sometimes in the most tragic situation, something just profoundly funny happens.

This was a tragic, tragic situation, but as far as we are concerned, the matter is closed.