Cliff viewed from Lauterbrunnen, heading towards Muerren, one of scores in the area
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – High mountain areas are places of danger, a fact sometimes overlooked by visitors, a police spokesperson from canton Bern says. The officer was answering questions from GenevaLunch about whether the police are investigating the possibility of foul play or a link between the disappearance of two men in their early 20s in three years, from the small town of Wengen. The second man, Myles Robinson, age 23, disappeared 22 December. His body was found in a wooded area below a high cliff Monday 28 December.
Media reports shortly after his disappearance raised the question of a possible link with the unsolved death of Daniel Baptista, age 21, in 2006.
The police cannot comment on the investigation into the hours before Robinson’s fall or his death in particular, which has been handed to an investigating judge, or magistrate.
But the officer cautions against speculating, noting that the danger of the mountains is a factor that has to be considered for the many unresolved cases of missing persons in the region over a period of several years.
“This has to be emphasized, over and over. Wengen is a community that is very spread out, and it covers a lot of mountainous terrain. There are places where people who live there never go, for safety’s sake.”
Wengen, which has woods and cliffs on three sides of the village centre, sits on a high shelf above the busy sports centre town of Lauterbrunnen. The fourth side rises up to towering peaks which attract skiers, hikers, climbers. Magnificent waterfalls in the area, including the Truemmelbach Falls, are a favourite with tourists. Muerren, like Wengen a car-free town, and Grindelwald, have for decades been major Swiss destinations for British tourists in particular.
Daniel Baptista, age 21, disappeared from Wengen in 2006, and Bern police confirm that his is still considered an open missing persons case. Little information is available other than that he was known to have taken the hallucinatory drug mescaline before he disappeared.
A 12-year-old US tourist disappeared from the Truemmelbach Falls in May 2009. His body was found a month later, and foul play was ruled out, the Jungfrau Zeitung reported.
Each canton maintains a web page on missing persons as well as one on unidentified bodies, in the hope of alerting a wider public than that reached by traditional posters. The missing persons pages in Bern show only part of the complete registry. People are listed only with the agreement of their families, in general.
The unidentified bodies pages include information on a man found near a Grindelwald trail in 2004.
A Swiss federal website on missing persons pulls together information from the cantons.
News story, GenevaLunch, 30 December 2009.
Filed under: Featured story, Society
Tags: Alps, dangerous terrain, Daniel Baptista, mountain accidents, Myles Robinson, Switzerland, tourists, Wengen
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6 Responses to “Bern police caution against mountain accidents speculation”
December 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
What was the time of death of Mr. Myles Rrobinson? If the army’s search couldn’t locate the body within the hours of his disappearance, maybe it is because he wasn’t yet at the place he was found. To go wandering off to this dangerous area at 02:30 is rather strange, i feel. I do hope the judge investigates all plausible scenarios.
December 30th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Why didnt the female friend report that he had been drinking? I mean she would have known, she was the last known person to see him alive. That is unless he dropped her off and went drinking without her.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:12 am
She did say he’d been drinking, but she didn’t think he was too drunk to make it home safely.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:15 am
They haven’t given an exact time of death. But Wednesday evening (30 Dec.) they said the evidence now points to an accident, and he had a “high level of alcohol” in his blood when he died.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:31 am
there seem to be some inconsistancies.
- now police say that the sniffer dog(s) did locate the scent leading to the area close to the cliff from where he fell.
-a psser-by found the missing shoe (and sock) in that area. why didn’t the sniffer dog find the shoe? isn’t that what the dog is supposed to find? ( was the shoe there when the dog discovered the scent? or ????)
-if the dog followed the scent to that dangerous spot, why didn’t the police look below the cliff to check for a body?
-and what of the woman that he accompanied home? it seems they talked for 20-30 minutes ( outside in the freezing cold )we have no information about what they talked about ( maybe the police are not revealing all that they know)
-a verdict of “accidental death” has not been declared as yet.
i’m still curious why there is a judge investigating……perhaps it is because things are not all that they appear.
January 15th, 2010 at 7:25 am
The only question I can answer right now is the last one: it’s the norm in Switzerland for a magistrate/judge to investigate any death that is not from natural causes. The judge, rather than the police, is put in charge of cases, and they are often closed officially only once all the bits and pieces of information are in.