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.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Scouts movement has been shocked by the death of a 13-year-old who fell 300 metres to his death during a hike Wednesday in canton Fribourg. Tighter controls were put in place a year ago by the group, reports TSR, to ensure the safety of young Scouts while nevertheless helping them learn to appreciate nature and the rugged outdoors.
A group of four youths, all age 13, was on a 48-hour hike from Charmey in Fribourg to Château-d’Oex in canton Vaud when the accident occurred in the area of Gruyere. One of them, from Bienne, slipped on the steep slopes, then fell. The others, in a state of shock, stayed put but were able to alert authorities.
Video, TSR (available only in Switzerland)
Update 5 August 13:00 LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist died shortly after midnight Friday morning at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne following an accident near Ollon, canton Vaud. The 38-year-old Valais man was passing a line of cars on the cantonal road between Aigle and Bex Thursday evening at 20:18 when a car began to turn left and he hit the car at full speed.
The driver of the car suffered hand and eye injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
The critically injured man was airlifted to the Chuv and Vaud police closed the road to investigate. Anyone who can provide information to clarify how the accident occurred is asked to contact police at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 38-year-old Frenchman who was paragliding alone Tuesday above Zinal in canton Valais died when his sail suddenly collapsed and he was unable to get it open again, some 300 metres above the village football field.
Police say the accident was likely due to wind turbulence.
The man had taken off at 12:15 from the Corne de Parabois above Zinal.
He was at about 2,240 metres when his sail closed and he slammed into a rockface.
Air Glacier recovered the body.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 92-year-old driver is in critical condition Thursday evening after his car was hit by a French SNCF train at chemin de la Montagne, à Chêne-Bougeries in Geneva. The car, with Geneva plates, was dragged by the Annemasse-gare des Eaux-Vives train several metres. The cause of the accident is not yet clear.
Photo, ©2011, Mr Kio on flickr
MOROCCO – At least 78 people were killed when a Moroccan military transport plane crashed into a mountain in the south of the country during bad weather, said the state news agency, MAP.
“Seventy-eight people were killed, and three were seriously injured following a crash, on Tuesday, of a C-130 aircraft of the Royal Armed Forces northeast the southern city of Guelmim,” the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) said in a statement to the state news agency.
King Mohammed VI sent messages of condolence to the families of the victims.
The crash is Morocco’s worst known air disaster since 1973, when 105 people were killed after a Royal Air Maroc aircraft crashed near the capital Rabat.
Further details: MAP.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Vaud Police are seeking witnesses to and information about an accident that occurred at 07:35 Monday on the A1 autoroute between Nyon and Coppet, in the direction of Geneva. No one was injured when a car spun several times but the driver of another car, who was earlier reported to have caused the accident, left the scene.
The driver of that car has now gone to the police and they are seeking witnesses to establish what exactly happened.
The initial report from the police noted that a woman driving a beige Mazda 636 in the right lane, going 110 kph, used her signals to move into the left lane. As she did so she noticed a gray Q5 Audi Break with Vaud plates come up rapidly on her tail, flashing its lights at her. The driver swerved to the right to pass her, then swerved back into the left lane, suddenly braking “violently” according to police. The woman was also forced to brake and she lost control of her vehicle, which then spun several times, hitting the central barrier, coming to a halt facing the wrong way in the left lane.
The other driver continued down the road.
Anyone with information that will help clarify what exactly happened is asked to go to the nearest police station or call 021 644 4444.
Woman was knocked 70 m down steep slope by her car door
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 63-year-old woman who lives in canton Vaud stepped out of her car on a mountain road to remove rocks on the road, and she suffered several broken bones after her car rolled into her. The door she’d left open knocked her 70 metres down a steep slope.
The accident happened Sunday night 18 July in canton Valais, near the Trient gorges, at 20:00. She was on La Crettaz road heading for Gueuroz. Her car rolled into a rocky wall on the road after hitting her and knocking her over, down the slopes and near the cliff leading to the gorges. She managed to call an acquaintance on her cell phone and say she had a shoulder injury and was unable to climb out.
A mountain rescue team and two Air Glaciers helicopters with a doctor were sent to rescue her. Police managed to get close to her on the difficult terrain and to maintain contact by telephone, while another person worked his way around to the area below the cliffs where she’d fallen.
She is in serious condition with several fractures, but her life is not in danger, say Valais police.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A huge blast at a Cyprus munitions dump at a naval base on the south of the island at 06:00 (local time) Monday 11 July killed at least 8 people. Some reports say 12 people have died and at least 38 were injured. It is being treated for now as an accident, reports the BBC, whose service to the Middle East was knocked out by major electricity cuts linked to the blast.
The explosion reportedly occurred after two containers of stored arms caught fire. The fire then spread to a nearby power plant, the country’s largest. Reuters reports that doors and windows were blown out at a resort 3km away.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 14-year-old girl is reported by the Tribune de Geneve to be in serious condition after being shot in the stomach accidentally at 21:30 during a small party held Thursday evening at an apartment on the rue Robert-de-Traz in Florissant. The flat reportedly belongs to French-Swiss actor Alain Delon. The party was held by the 17-year-old son of the actor. All evidence appears to point to an accident, according to the Tribune, with the young people unaware that a gun in the home was loaded.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The bodies of three men and three women were flown out of the Plate des Agneaux area, in the Ecrins chain in France following one of the worst mountaineering accidents in the French Alps in recent history. The three were on a climb not noted for its difficulty, on a beautiful day, when the two groups of three people roped together ran into problems on the stretch that is reportedly the most difficult technical part of the climb.
The group was climbing to the Ecrins hut, but their bodies were spotted Sunday by a British hiker.
SION, SWITZERLAND – The death of fabled climber Erhard Loretan, who died 28 April on his 52nd birthday while climbing the Gruenhorn in canton Valais, was an accident, and the cantonal justice department has closed the case, TSR has revealed. The judicial report is available only to the families of Loretan and the 38-year-old woman, a client from Bern, who was climbing with him the day of his death.
The roped pair fell as they were climbing a ridge at 3,800 metres, for unknown reasons.
The woman was seriously injured and TSR reports that she is still traumatized by the accident and does not want to talk to the public about it.
Loretan was one of Switzerland’s most famous climbers who achieved world fame as one of the few people to climb 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000 metres, died Thursday 28 April in a fall in canton Valais. He captured the world’s imagination in 1986 when he made a 40-hour ascent of Mount Everest at night, using no oxygen. He took 13 years, from 1982-95, to climb the 14 tallest peaks.
