Bodies not yet clearly identified after birthday flight crash
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A Piper crashed at 15:30 Saturday 28 April in Tatroz, canton Fribourg, not far from Lausanne in the commune of Attalens, killing six people. The police have not yet been able to give positive identifications to the bodies, but local media say it was a well-known family who lived in the area. They were reportedly celebrating the 60th birthday of a man, reports RTS. Le Matin reports that the son-in-law, L.E., is well known in the construction business in the region.
The man’s son and his companion, the man’s daughter and her husband who runs the construction business, were reportedly in the plane, in addition to a Vaud man who was the pilot.
L.E. and his wife leave three school-age children without parents; they were told late in the afternoon, according to Le Matin.
The plane had left La Blecherette airport in Lausanne at 14:30, and was seen circling the village of Tatroz twice before it crashed.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 42-year-old Swiss man lost his life Thursday 12 April when he fell 7 metres down a crevasse in the Zermatt region.
He and two other ski tourers, who were roped together, were crossing the Grenz glacier, heading from Ludiwigssattel to the Monte Rosa hut when the accident occurred at 10:30.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 62-year-old man died Monday afternoon following an accident at the Montreux exit of the A1 autoroute in the direction of Villeneuve. The driver lost control of his car for reasons that are not yet clear, say Vaud police. The car hit the exit sign after swerving on the road and the motor was thrown 50m as a result of the impact.
Rescue workers spent nearly 1.5 hours freeing the man from the car, during which time an emergency doctor treated him, before he was taken to a local hospital, then to the Chuv, where he later died.
The autoroute exit was closed until 13.40.
Earlier in the day a serious accident involving three vehicles created a traffic jam of several km in the other direction, shortly after the Blecherette exit.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 10-year-old boy driving a fork-lift that was carrying potatoes died around noon WEdnesday 28 March when he lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, crushing him. He was working with several members of his family on the farm near Grandson when the accident happened and despite an emergency team arriving quickly the boy died at the scene of the accident. The boy was driving the farm vehicle on a secondary road at the time of the accident.
The family, in a state of shock, is being given counseling.
Bastien Monnet, body found in woods near Martigny
SION, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Valais say the body of 20-year-old Bastien Monnet, who has been missing from Martigny since 29 January 2012, was found in woods in Vérossaz 17 March by a farmer.
No further details were provided.
A second death was reported Tuesday morning 20 March in St Luc, in the Val d’Anniviers.
A passerby reported seeing the wreckage from a car crash on the route du Prilet, a road down to Vissoie, shortly after 09:00.
Police arriving on the scene found a 27-year-old Frenchman who was injured but who had managed to get out of the car on his own.
St Luc crash took one life, left a 27-yr-old man injured
They also found the body of a 33-year-old French woman.
The circumstances surrounding the accident are not yet clear, according to police.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 27-year-old French man who lives in Lausanne is in critical condition at the Chuv University hospitals after he was taken there early Thursday morning following a motorcycle accident. He was on the road from Morges, on a small bike (scooter in French) heading in the direction of Rolle when he was hit broadside by a car coming out of a service station on the lake road in Tolochenaz. The driver of the car, a 47-year-old man who lives in the area, was not injured.
The accident occurred at 06:40 Thursday 15 March and police are seeking witnesses or anyone who can provide information to help the investigation, inparticular about the driving of the motorcyclist shortly before the accident: +41 21 644 4444.
The bus came from the south, bottom of image, entered the roundabout (centre of image), then headed west into the tunnel, shown with dotted lines, bottom left
SIERRE / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The cause of the Tuesday night 13 March bus crash that killed 28 in Sierre could remain a mystery for some time, with the two drivers dead and no immediate explanation for an accident in good weather, at the start of a trip, in a relatively new and well-lit tunnel.
The group was from two towns in Belgium, and was mostly children, who had been at a ski camp in the Val d’Anniviers.
Correction: The bus entered the 13-year-old Gamsen tunnel, which is 2km long, shortly after a roundabout at the end of the road coming down the mountain from the Val d’Anniviers in canton Valais.
Near the end of the tunnel, towards the A9 west exit for Sierre, heading in the direction of Sion, the bus veered to the right and crashed head-on into an emergency area wall.
The tunnel will be familiar to anyone who goes to resorts in the upper Valais area, including Zermatt, Saas Fee and Leukerbad, or from western Switzerland to Italy via the Simplon pass or tunnel, since it links the end of the autoroute and the cantonal highway that is the main artery to these areas.
Gamsen tunnel (photo, 2002, ©2012 Swiss Federal Highway Department)
It was inaugurated in 1999 and is part of a project to complete the autoroute to Italy via the Simplon, planned for 2019. The stretch to be completed is 31.8km, of which 15.8km will be tunnels, in part to protect the eco-system along the Rhone River and the Pfyn forest, the region’s first national forest.
There are several stretches of the road from Sierre to Brig that are under construction, but the area around the Gamsen tunnel, in the direction of Sion, does not have any roadworks at the moment.
Head-on crash into tunnel wall killed 28, injured 24 in Sierre, Switzerland (photo, Valais police)
SIERRE / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Valais are trying to piece together the cause of the Tuesday night 13 March accident they are describing as “of an extreme violence”.
Twenty-eight people, 22 of whom were children about age 12, lost their lives in the crash at 21:15 Tuesday night.
Valais police chief Christian Varone immediately informed Belgium’s ambassador to Switzerland, Jan Luykx, who went directly to the scene of the crash to help police contact the families as quickly as possible.
In a Wednesday morning bulletin police provide slightly more detail but the cause of the crash and the high number of deaths and injuries remains baffling for now: the bus veered to the right in the tunnel and into the wall at the end of an emergency pullover area.
The impact was so violent that the front of the bus trapped a number of passengers, who had to be cut out by firefighters. Rescuers have made reference to the high speed at which the bus must have been travelling for the crash to have such an impact, but it is not yet clear if the bus, one of three in a group carrying the Belgian students and adults, was traveling within the speed limit, which is 100kph inside the tunnel.
The accident, which sent 24 people, mainly children, to six hospitals, including the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne and the cantonal hospital in Bern, called on a large number of emergency services: 30 police officers, 60 firefighters from Sierre and Sion, 15 doctors, 100 members of cleanup crews, 12 ambulances, 8 emergency helicopters (Air Glaciers, Air Zermatt, Rega), 3 psychologists who are providing counseling.
Ed. note: RTS, Swiss public radio/television in French, is providing regular updates that include photos of the very badly damaged front of the bus, taken in Sierre Wednesday morning.
Bus carried two classes of 12-year-olds; 24 injured
The bus carried 58 people, with the children from two towns in Flanders, Lommel and Heverlee. It was heading home at the end of the trip.Switzerland's Val d'Anniviers, where the school group had been skiing
Update 07:10 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A bus from Belgium, carrying two school classes of children who had just finished a week of ski holidays in the Val d’Anniviers, crashed in an autoroute tunnel in Sierre late Tuesday 13 March, killing 28 people and leaving 24 injured, Valais police say.
The accident occurred at 21.15 Tuesday night. The bus had just entered the autoroute and was in the tunnel that links the west and east A9 autoroute exits for Sierre when it swerved and crashed head-on into the tunnel wall at the end of an emergency pullover area.
The tunnel was built only 10 years ago, is wide and well-lit, relatively flat, with gradual curves, and the weather was dry and clear Tuesday evening so the tunnel and tires would have been dry.
The two bus drivers died in the accident. Police investigators are trying to determine what caused the accident.
Those who were injured are being treated in four area hospitals, with some flown to the Chuv in Lausanne and one to Bern.
The families, accompanied by psychologists, will be arriving in Switzerland during the day Wednesday.
Valais police have set up a hotline
From outside Switzerland +41 848 112 117
From Switzerland 0848 112 117
Update, Valais police report in Dutch
Sierre : een ernstig ongeluk met een Bus uit belgie
De 13.03.2012rond 21,15 In de Tunnel van de autobaan in Sierre is een ernstig ongeval gebeurd .
Een bus met belgische nummerplaat is tegen de wand van de tunnel opgeklapt.
Verscheidene personen zijn ernstig verwond, Een grootscheepse hulp actie is opgezet.
De bus reed vanaf Sierre richting sion. Terwijl hij in de tunnel reed ,is de bus van de weg afgeraakt en is tegen de wand aangereden op het einde van een vluchtplaats.
Verscheidene personen zijn ernstig verwond. De hulpgroepen zijn nog altijd bezig.De gewonden zijn vervoerd naar verscheidene ziekenhuizen,
De politie heeft een hulplijn opgezet die uitsluitend voor de families zijn gereserveerd.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 45-year-old Valais man died on impact when he was thrown from his car, which rolled several times on the A9 autoroute Monday afternoon, between Chexbres and Vevey. Police are seeking witnesses to the accident, which took place shortly after 16:00. The autoroute was initially closed on the Lausanne to Valais side of the road, then limited to one lane, causing a huge tailback until 19:30, according to Vaud police.
Police are asking anyone who noticed the victim’s car shortly before the accident to get in touch by phoning +41 21 644 4444. The man was driving a green Hyundai Ellentra and betweenn Chexbres and Vevey was reportedly going 120kph, passing several people on the right and forcing his way between the lanes so that people in both lanes were obliged to spread out to accommodate him.
On the downhill stretch towards the Vevey exit, driving at a high speed, he came very suddenly upon a car in the right lane and swerved into the other lane, lost control of his car, which hit the bank separating the lanes of traffic, then rolled. The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car. It continued its course into the other lane of traffic and hit a gray Fiat driven by a 35-year-old Vaud woman, who appears to have escaped unharmed.
Click on images to view larger: Valais avalanche, Lake Geneva ice skirts being formed
Bern man dies in Valais avalanche
Aminona, near Crans-Montana, Saturday morning: no wind, very thin stratus veiling blue skies
Update 11 February 14:10 GENEVA / SION, SWITZERLAND – There is good news for skiers: the strong winds that were forecast have died down and slopes are open everywhere, with blue skies the rule.
Verbier and Crans-Montana both are showing zero wind, slopes open and sun despite a veil of early stratus clouds.
The south side of the Alps, notably around Zermatt, has less stratus and the sunny slopes are virtually all open.
Time for skis, snowboards and sleds!
Avalanche risk moderate, but one man dead following Valais snow pack slide
A 48-year-old Bern man died at noon Saturday, 23 hours after being caught by an avalanche in canton Valais.
Three power station employees, one of them a mountain guide, were checking snow conditions at Obergesteln and as they headed back, crossing a slope at 13:00 at Sidelhorn, the avalanche struck. Two of the men were caught by sliding plates of snow, 200 metres long and 100 metres wide. One was able to free himself and he and the man who was not hit were able to quickly free their colleague. A rescue team arrived rapidly and he was flown to hospital in Sion, but he died from his injuries Saturday.
Avalanche situation: the risk level is 2-3/5 throughout the Alps, relatively low.
Icy roads raise accident risk
A 52-year-old man is in critical condition, with fears for his life, at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne after being hit by a car in Villars-sur-Ollon Friday morning at 09:00. A driver heading down towards the plain did not see the man, who was using a pedestrian crossing, until too late, and skidded into the victim, on the cantonal road at Chesières.
On the plain, around Lake Geneva, the wind will continue to blow, with the icy bise wind gusting in some areas, until Sunday, says MeteoSwiss.
Ice skirts on jetties continue to form thanks to strong winds on Lake Geneva, Friday
The amazing natural ice sculptures fringing Lake Geneva are generally the result of strong winds blowing lake water onto boats, buoys, jetties, boardwalks and plants. The blend of sunshine and glacial temperatures causes a continual melt-freeze action, smoothing them down until the next blast of wind brings a new layer of lake water from Europe’s deepest lake.
Lake Geneva put on one of its wonderful colour shows Friday, with the water ranging from brown to green to deep blue and violet, thanks to the wind whipping it up for several hours.
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:39)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:40)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:40)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:41)
Avalanche in Obergesteln, canton Valais, Friday
Avalanche at Sidelhorn, Obergesteln, 200 metres wide and 100 metres long (photo, Valais police)
Sidelhorn avalanche (photo, Valais police)
Sidelhorn avalanche (photo, Valais police)
SION, SWITZERLAND – A six-year-old boy from canton Vaud is in critical condition with internal injuries following a sledding accident in the resort of Haut Nendaz Sunday shortly before noon.
The child was going down a slope and went onto a road just as a car came along. The view of the slope was hidden by 1.5 metres of snow along the edge of the road. The driver felt a bump and looking behind her, saw a child in the road.
She immediately stopped; the boy, who was conscious, was immediately flow to the hospital in Sion and from there later transferred to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne.
Drunk driver left scene of Montreux-Vevey accident; 78-year-old woman killed
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 78-year-old woman died in hospital Saturday night 21 January shortly after an accident at 22:00 on the A9 autoroute between Vevey and Montreux, in the direction of Vileneuve. The lake side of the road was closed to traffic until 07:15 Sunday for the investigation.
The driver of the second car noticed the car ahead of him too late and despite braking hard he rear-ended the car violently, say canton Vaud police. The two cars ended up crosswise on the highway.
The victim, who lived in north Vaud, was driving a gray Toyota wagon, and police are looking for witnesses or anyone with information, in particular drivers who may have passed her car. She was taken to the Chuv university hospitals, where she died.
The man who crashed into her car is 26 years old, Portuguese and his driver’s license was already suspended. He fled the scene of the accident but turned himself in later. His alcohol level was measured at 1.08.
Anyone with information is asked to go to the nearest police station or to phone +41 21 644 4444.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police are seeking the driver of a dark VW Golf following an accident at 09:00 Monday morning 9 January on the A1 autoroute between Rolle and Gland, in the direction of Geneva. A metallic gray Skoda was in the left lane, just before the La Côte layby, passing a truck, when the driver was surprised by the Golf, which suddenly moved towards the left lane. The two cars scraped their sides, but continued to the Gland exit, where the VW Golf driver continued without stopping or reporting the accident to police.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them by phone at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 14-year-old is in serious condition, but his life is not in danger, following an accident at the train station in Gland, canton Vaud, Thursday evening 22 December. Vaud police say that a goods train, going 100 kph, pulled the youth was pulled onto the tracks from the platform about 19:00. He and a group of friends, who were meeting up at the station, were standing on the platform and talking, according to local media.
Vaud police have not confirmed the details but say that the youth and one other friend, also 14, were both injured. The second boy sustained only light injuries and was treated and released from the Nyon hospital.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Pakistan’s foreign minister reportedly had harsh words for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a phone call early Sunday 27 November, in the wake of a Nato airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The soldiers were buried Sunday.
The deaths were the result of a “tragic unintended incident” Saturday, said Nato leader Fogh Rasmussen, but thousands of people protested in the streets of Karachi Sunday after the Pakistan government labeled the incident an “unprovoked assault”, according to Reuters.
The airstrike hit two border posts on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border and Pakistan has now closed Nato’s supply routes into Afghanistan, which Reuters says the alliance uses to send nearly half of its land shipments there.
Links to other sites: Associated Press of Pakistan, Dawn, Pakistan, Times of India, Washington Post
Agrandir le plan
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 25-year-old woman was found dead in her car at 07:30 Saturday 26 November, in a field between Le Lieux and Le Sentier, next to the cantonal road in the hamlet of Hameau de Combe Noir on the northwest side of Lac du Joux. Her car had rolled several times after she apparently swerved hard and went off the highway. The woman, who was Swiss, was driving a car with French plates.
The highway was closed Saturday for the investigation; police are still seeking to learn why she abruptly swerved.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 43-year-old Valais man died Sunday afternoon while working at a chemical plant belonging to Syngenta in Monthey, canton Valais. He and another worker were trying to recover a tool that had fallen into an emptied vat. When they failed to reach it he went into the vat, but without first putting on a protective mask. He lost consciousness and despite the quick arrival of a rescue team, he died at the site of the accident.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Vaud Police are asking for help in finding the driver of a dark blue car that hit a 10-year-old girl in Epalinges Wednesday 9 November at noon.
The girl was walking along the chemin des Tuileries at 12:00 when she stepped into the crosswalk at Petit-Vennes. She was 1.5 metres into the striped crosswalk when the car struck her, knocking her down. The car was heading on chemin des Croisettes in the direction of the chemin des Ormeaux. The driver failed to stop after the accident.
The girl, who was hit in the right arm, took refuge on the sidewalk. Her parents took her to the hospital early in the afternoon and only later contacted police. The child is suffering from a broken wrist, broken tooth, and bruising to her right knee and face.
Pollice are asking anyone with information to call them at +41 21 644 4444 or to contact the nearest police station.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 27-vehicle pileup on the M5 motorway in Somerset, England, has killed an unknown number of people but initial reports list 5 dead, at least 43 injured. The accident occurred at 20:35 Friday 4 November at exit 25 northbound, near Taunton, with the crashes sparking a huge fireball. It appears that six trucks and at least 20 cars were involved in the huge crash.
Heavy rain earlier in the day Friday and patches of fog may have been involved in causing the accident, but police investigations have not yet clarified what caused the huge fireball.
MORGES, SWITZERLAND – A 66-year-old local woman slipped and fell between the quai at the Morges train station and the train tracks at 09:30 Wednesday, say Vaud police.
She is in critical condition.
The woman was trying to board a train as it pulled out of the station and she lost her balance. The police and CFF have opened an investigation into the incident.
The Matterhorn, often a scene of tragedy
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A climber who was not roped to his two companions slipped and fell several hundred metres to his death Wednesday 19 October on the north face of the Matterhorn.
It was the mountain’s second fatality, in separate accidents, this week.
The accident occurred at the Hoernligrat area.
The climber has not been identified but the two companions, two Greek men ages 42 and 37, were trapped by bad weather on the mountainside and could be rescued only Thursday afternoon.
Their companion’s body was airlifted out during the afternoon.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A number of Swiss trains are delayed, cancelled or taking different routes Friday after a Thursday evening sideswipe crash between two trains left one conductor in critical condition. The cause of the crash in Olten, a major centre for Swiss trains, with several intersecting rail lines, is not yet known.
One of the trains had left Sissach and the other Basel. Twenty people were aboard the two trains, but there were no other serious injuries. The engine was badly damaged and two cars derailed in the accident.
The Olten-Basel line is closed until at least 15:00 Friday, with the CFF announcing the following changes (updates, CFF):
Derailment: Tecknau – Olten (SBB CFF FFS)
Derailment: Between Tecknau and Olten on the Basel SBB – Olten line, no train services are operating.
The Basel SBB – Chur / Zürich HB Intercity trains are being rerouted.
Long-distance trains IR Basel SBB – Luzern are cancelled between Gelterkinden and Olten.
Long-distance trains Basel SBB – Lugano / Locarno are cancelled between Basel SBB and Olten.
The IC Zürich HB – Bern trains make an unscheduled stop in Olten.
The Basel SBB – Bern – Interlaken Ost / Brig Intercity trains are being rerouted. The trains make an unscheduled stop in Gelterkinden. Please allow for approx. 30 minutes more travel time.
S-Bahn trains S3 are cancelled between Tecknau and Olten.
S-Bahn trains S9 are cancelled between Sissach and Olten.
Replacement buses operating Olten (xx:15 / xx:30 / xx:50) – Läufelfingen – Sissach.
Replacement buses operating Sissach (xx:10 / xx:35 / xx: 55) – Läufelfingen – Olten.
Passengers travelling from Basel SBB
- to Lugano – Chiasso / Locarno or vice versa travel via Zürich HB.
- to Luzern or vice versa travel via Zürich HB.
Passengers travelling from Liestal
- to Bern should take the S-Bahn S 3 to Gelterkinden and change in Gelterkinden onto the InterCity (IC) to Brig / Interlaken Ost.
- to Olten or vice versa travel via Aarau.
Passengers travelling from Gelterkinden to Olten should take the InterCity (IC) to Brig / Interlaken Ost.
Passengers travelling from Tecknau to Olten or vice versa travel via Sissach.
Please allow for a longer travelling time.
The connections are not guaranteed.
Duration of disruption expected until 07.10.2011 15:00.
For further information, please call free SBB hotline at 0800 99 66 33.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A nine-year-old girl who was hit by a car in Aigle 13 September died Saturday, 11 days after the accident, at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, Vaud Police say. The 49-year-old man who was driving the car had had his license suspended in 1997 and police say he lied to them about who was driving the car at the time of the accident.
The girl was crossing the Route de Transit, the Aigle ring road, en route to Lausanne from Aigle, at 19:40, when she was hit. The driver and the owner of the car, a 36-year-old who was a passenger, told police the owner had been driving. The friend was aware the driver did not have a license but had loaned his car to the man in the past.
Police say the driver has previously been charged with driving without a license, on a number of occasions.
PARIS, FRANCE – An explosion at the Codolet nuclear power plant in the south of France, near Marcoule, early Monday 12 September killed one person and injured four others. One person is in critical condition.
The French government says there are no leaks or outside contamination from the accident in an area where nuclear waste is treated.
The explosion occurred at a furnace where waste is melted down. The plant treats very slightly and slightly radioactive materials.
Motorcyclist killed on the Sierre-Montana road Saturday afternoon, just below the area where the Tohu Bohu music festival is taking place this weekend
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 34-year-old Portuguese man was killed at 15:15 Saturday 10 September in Sierre when his motorcycle collided with a car.
The driver of the car, a 49-year-old woman from Appenzell, had slowed down to make a left turn as she came down the hill when the right side of her car hit the motorcyclist, who was climbing the hill.
The man died at the scene of the accident.
The Route de Riondaz, where the accident occurred, runs from Sierre to Montana, part of the Crans-Montana resort. The accident occurred just below Murraz-Miege, where the Tohu Bohu open air music festival is being held this weekend.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two climbers, whose bodies have not yet been identified, died while climbing the dent d’Hérens in canton Valais Wednesday 24 August, bringing to six the number of people who have died in mountain accidents in the Swiss Alps in the past week.
The pair were climbing the peak at 09:45, at 4,050 metres, say canton Valais police, when for unknown reasons they fell 400 metres to their deaths. The pair were roped together.
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Vaud are looking for the driver of a Seat Combi car with Geneva plates who may have caused an accident Friday morning 19 August at about 05:50 on the A1 autoroute near between Rolle and Aubonne, heading in the direction of Lausanne. The driver left the scene of the accident, which occurred just after the Rolle exit. Police are looking for the driver as well as witnesses.
The driver of a Peugeot 206 was driving at 125kph, according to the driver’s statement, when the Seat Combi passed his and suddenly cut back in just one metre in front, forcing the Peugeot driver to brake suddenly. The Peugeot’s driver lost control and the car fishtailed several times, hitting the central barrier and ending up facing the wrong direction. An Audi A3 was forced to stop abruptly, with his emergency lights flashing, but the driver of the car behind couldn’t avoid it and both cars ended up facing the wrong direction.
The drivers of the Peugeot, the Audi and the fourth car had slight injuries but were not hospitalized.
Anyone who can help clarify the circumstances that led to the accident is asked to contact the nearest police station or call Vaud police: +41 21 644 4444.
Head-on crash in Martigny tunnel killed 1, injured 3 others in the car and the van driver
SION, SWITZERLAND - Canton Valais police are seeking witnesses or people with information that will clarify what caused a head-on crash that killed a 65-year-old woman and sent five others to hospital late Wednesday, in Martigny.
The crash occurred Wednesday 18 August at 17:30 in the Mont-Chemin tunnel, near the Transalpin roundabout. The 66-year-old driver of the car, from canton Aargau, was heading towards the A21. A van, driven by a 24-year-old Portuguese man, was coming from the opposite direction.
The reason for the collision is unclear.
The driver, both occupants of the van and two children, ages 7 and 11 who were in the rear of the car, were taken to hospital with injuries, but police have not said what their conditions are.
Anyone with information is asked to call cantonal police at +41 27 326 4656.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A man driving the wrong way on the A1 autoroute early Wednesday morning crashed head-on into an oncoming car, killing the driver of that car and seriously injuring himself.
The accident happened at 06:00 near the Chavorney exit on the A1 in the direction of Yverdon. The highway in that direction was closed for more than four hours while police investigated.
The man who died was a 55-year-old Frenchman living in eastern canton Vaud. He died at the scene of the accident after his car, which had been in the left lane, plowed into the central divider.
The 51-year-old driver who was on the wrong side of the autoroute was driving without a license; he lives in canton Fribourg and the Highway Service in that canton had earlier lifted his license, but police have not said why. His car ended up on its roof, in the righthand lane. He was taken by helicopter to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne. He remains in serious condition but his life is not in danger.
Several motorists had called the 117 emergency number to alert police to the driver; a police car was en route and was at the junction of Yverdon-sud and Essert-Pittet when the crash occurred.
