GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A local train and a high-speed train crashed head-on just outside Amsterdam, Saturday 21 April, about 18:30. First estimates were that 60 peoople were injured, 2 of them seriously, but the number by midnight was reported to be 125. Sunday morning Dutch authorities lowered the figure to 42.
The accident occurred on a bridge between Sloterdijk and Amsterdam Central Station, according to AFP.
Links to other sites: AFP, Dutch News and AT5 TV in Dutch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One Swiss person died and 19 others are injured following a bus crash in southern Turkey Tuesday 10 April near Antalya, a thermal baths resort. The foreign affairs department in Bern has confirmed information published by media late Tuesday. Three people were critically injured and one of them, a woman, died during the night.
Turkish media report that the bus may have swerved and hit a rock wall, but this has yet to be confirmed.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Dmitry Ivanyuta, 25, has been discovered in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Siberia, after being declared one of the 31 people who died in a plane crash near Tyulen, Russia 2 April. Twelve people survived the crash and are “recovering slowly” reports the Moscow Times. The newspaper says that the survivor’s sister recognized his face, initially unrecognizable. The man under whose name he was admitted to hospital was one of the dead, his family learned after requesting DNA testing.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Many of the children who were injured in the bus crash 13 March in Sierre are not yet ready to be interviewed by the police, their parents have reportedly told Belgian and Swiss police investigators, according to Belgian media. A team of Swiss inspectors is in Belgium this week for interviews as part of the effort to determine what caused the crash.
CHUV university hospitals in Lausanne
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The three girls at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne who have been in critical condition since the bus crash in Sierre a week ago are now out of danger, doctors said Tuesday 20 March. The hospital says in a statement that it will now be in touch with Belgian authorities about repatriating the girls in the near future.
One girl came out of her induced coma late last week and the two others have now also come out of their comas and have been able to speak to their parents. The two who suffered concussions and multiple fractures are showing “favourable signs” of neurological recovery and the girl who suffered spinal injuries is showing some movement in her toes and fingers, a positive sign, says the hospital.
All three, it says, are now at the start of a long rehabilitation road.
The other injured children from the 13 March bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre were all flown back to Belgium by the weekend.
The funerals of the children who died will be held Thursday. A contingent of Swiss officials from the police, medical and fire departments as well as city and cantonal officials, all of whom were heavily involved in the rescue operations, are flying to Belgium today to accompany the families for the next two days.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The cause of the bus crash that killed 28 people 13 March in Sierre, and injured 24 others, was most likely human error or a technical problem, the public prosecutor in charge of the case insists, despite media stories making the rounds that the driver may have been inserting a DVD or have been distracted by a teacher who brought the DVD to the front of the bus, information the chief investigator denies.
Two parents of children who were injured have reportedly told media that the children say a one of the teachers had gone to the front of the bus to hand the DVD to the driver.
A team of investigators that includes a specialist in interviewing children in police cases will be traveling from Switzerland to Belgium next week to interview the children as part of the effort to understand what went wrong.
Olivier Elsig, who is heading the investigation, says that while recovering children have said they saw the menu for a movie come up on the screen shortly before the crash, there is no evidence nor does he have any reports that someone had moved to the front of the bus. Film footage from the tunnel shortly before the crash shows all the adults seated at the front of the bus.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, but Elsig Friday 16 March issued a statement making a number of points:
Technical investigations
- Investigators are completing the mapping of the scene and analyzing recovered traces of the accident
- Video footage have made it possible to follow the path of the bus: they exclude an initial crash on the left side of the tunnel as well as the involvement of another vehicle
- Several documents about the buses and their drivers have been received in Valais and are being reviewed
- Tachygraph disk scanning will allow investigators to determine the precise speed of the bus; the first images appear to show the bus going under the speed limit, which is 100kph in the tunnel
- The technical check of the bus is underway; experts are being selected who will ultimately determine if the vehicle had any defects.
Interviews
- People who were driving near the bus before the accident, and who contacted police, are still being interviewed
- A dozen of the children who were injured have been interviewed and no information has turned up that would make it possible to determine the causes(s) of the accident: this includes the theory of a moment of inattention while linked to a DVD being inserted – none of the witnesses saw the driver making such moves.
The autopsy
Partial autopsy results (further analyses are being done) show that:
- it appears the driver died from trauma injuries
- no presence of alcohol was found in his system
- no pre-existing pathology or other element has turned up to encourage the idea he may have had a sudden health problem.
Causes of the accident
Two theories remain:
- a technical cause linked to a vehicle defect
- human cause as a result of error or a moment’s inattention.
Police officers carry the coffin of one of the 28 victims of Sierre's coach crash to load it into a Belgian military cargo aircraft at Sion airport, western Switzerland, Friday, March 16, 2012. Twenty-eight people, including 22 children, returning to Belgium from a skiing holiday died in a bus accident inside a tunnel in Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais. (©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – (#Belgium#Sierre bus crash) The bodies of the 28 people who died Tuesday 13 March in a bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais, were flown out of the small Sion airport Friday morning at 09:00.
The small white caskets contrasted sharply with the vivid blue skies and white peaks above as they were carried to two planes brought to Switzerland by the Belgian armed services.
A police honour guard escorted them and police officers, all of whom have been involved in the massive transport, security, identification, investigation and cleanup tasks following the accident, carried them to the planes.
Several of the officers were clearly trying to hold back tears.
Belgium mourns
Belgium is officially in mourning today, as the victims, 22 of the 28 children, were flown home.
Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is in Belgium today for meetings with European Union leaders.
In Sion and Sierre, police stood on several corners as ambulances discreetly moved patients between hospitals, with eight of the children taken to the Sion airport to fly home in a third plane provided by Belgium.
The tunnel in Sierre, in the direction of Martigny-Lausanne, remains closed for now.
(Click on images to view larger)
Police carrying coffin to the plane at Sion airport, for the return flight to Belgium (©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire)
Photos from Sion, Switzerland in canton Valais Friday morning 16 March 2012
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Mair |
 ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |  ©2012 KEYSTONE POOL/Olivier Maire |
Swiss government to review safety of tunnel pullover emergency areas
Holy Cross Church in Sierre was filled to overflowing as the town's citizens came for special mass Thursday night, for those who died or who have been hurt
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Eight of the children injured in the 13 March bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais, that killed 28 people are heading home in specially-equipped planes, police said in a statement issued Thursday evening.
They were discreetly taken to say goodbye to their friends who remain hospitalized in Sion until they are able to travel. Three Belgian armed forces planes were given a special dispensation to land at the airport in Sion in order to pick up the children and their families.
Dr Jean-Pierre Desfarzes, who has headed the emergency medical team dealing with the accident, says that the next 48 hours will be crucial for the most seriously injured, who may suffer long-term neurological and “functional” damage due to the severity of their injuries.
Four of the eight who are heading home have been in the hospital in Visp and four in Sion. Another 10 remain in the Sion hospital, but all have now been moved out of intensive care. The three in Lausanne at the Chuv remain in critical condition and one child flown to Bern suffered multiple fractures and a severe concussion.
“In the hours following the accident we were pessimistic,” Desfarzes told GenevaLunch, “but quite a few are recovering well.”
Dr Desfarzes says that despite the small size of the towns in the area, “Valais has an amazing capacity to absorb” a large number of injured people. The Valais Hospital trauma centre status means that 16 medical disciplines must be on call 24 hours a day. During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday some 150 medical workers were part of the emergency trauma team. Valais Hospital is a collection of nine medical treatment sites throughout the canton.
Fifty operations were carried out on 16 patients, mainly in Sion, which has served as the planning and main treatment centre this week.
Valais Police Chief Christophe Varone briefs the media at the site of the crash Thursday, after the families visited it
The staff included dozens of nurses and operating room assistants, radiology technicians, 10 surgeons and 10 emergency medicine doctors, anesthetists, intensive care specialist physicians, radiologists, pediatricians and pediatric surgeons.
The small city of Sion was able to handle such a heavy burden because of good coordination, say police: Visp, Martigny and Sierre hospitals were able to promptly take in those with lesser injuries and provide them with a very high level of care.
Desfarzes told GenevaLunch that he was proud of the team’s preparedness, which involved quickly bringing together a large number of people who were off-duty or on vacation.
Valais police and the hospitals will not be allowing interviews with any of the children or their families in order to protect their privacy, they told media.
Thursday, late afternoon, more than 250 journalists were taken to visit the site of the crash, the cause of which remains unclear for now. The federal highway department told news agency ats earlier in the day that it is reviewing the “angled” (with corners) emergency areas that are the norm throughout Switzerland.
Media from around the world have streamed into Sierre; today they were taken by police to visit the tunnel crash site before it re-opens
Small plane crash: police say not yet clear if it was landing or taking off when the crash occurred
Update 4 March SION / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The two occupants of a small plane that crashed Saturday morning 3 March on the Diablerets glacier/Tsanfleuron had to be cut out of the plane by the Sion fire department before they could be flown to the hospital in Sion.
Valais police said Sunday the pilot was a 58-year-old Neuchatel man and a 49-year-old Vaud woman, who live in canton Valais. She sustained light injuries and was able to leave the hospital. He remains in hospital with multiple fractures.
An alarm was raised by another pilot in the area at 10:50; the plane had taken off earlier from Bex, but the identity of the man and woman is not yet known, nor is the cause of the accident.
The crash occurred on the Saviese commune part of the glacier.
Les Diablerets plane crash on the glacier
Three Air Glacier helicopters and the Sion fire department were called to the rescue
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – AP/Republic newspaper in Arizona report that a 35-year-old Zurich man was rescued from a canyon after Navajo police found his vehicle. He had reportedly hiked into Waterholes Canyon not far from Flagstaff, Arizona and went down into a dry waterfall canyon with a rope, but was injured and was stuck there, with no cell phone reception. He had rope burns to his hands and an injured ankle, according to the report.
The AP story doesn’t say how long he was down the canyon, only that he was rescued Monday, but he presumably had time to reflect on how his situation resembled that of an experienced American hiker caught in a canyon, an autobiographical drama retold in the film “127 Hours”.
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)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 17-year-old Valais youth was caught by an avalanche Sunday 5 February while skiiing off-piste with his 47-year-old father near Anzères in canton Valais.
The two, who were ski touring, had just left a groomed slope for Pointe d’Hérémence. At 2,750 metres, between La Motte and Chamossaire, the avalanche was triggered as the first skier, the son, headed down. He stayed on top of the avalanche, which was 250 metres long and 40 metres wide. His father immediately called for help and the youth, who suffered minor injuries to his knees, was flown to the hospital in Sion.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The cruise ship Costa Concordia, which crashed into rocks Friday 13 February off the Italian coast, remains the scene of painstaking searches for survivors, with Manrico Gianpetroni, chief purser, brought out alive and suffering from a broken leg, and a Korean couple on their honeymoon brought out dazed. Checks have now made it possible to ascertain that 17 people remain missing, fewer than earlier thought, but at least five people died, with two bodies found Sunday afternoon, and 70 were injured in the accident to the luxury liner that had 4,000 people on board.
Reuters cites Italian police as saying that “the captain of the luxury 114,500-tonne ship, Francesco Schettino, was under arrest and accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.”
Links to other sites: BBC, CNN, La Stampa (It), Le Monde (Fr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A jeweler on the rue de Montchoisy in Geneva suffered head and hand injuries after he was attacked by a man with a 30 cm knife, say Geneva police. The would-be client entered the shop, walked out to look at the window with the owner, then attacked him as the owner was heading back into the shop.
The attacker fled towards Parc Le Grange, without taking anything, and he has not yet been found. He was wearing a khaki jacket and jeans, age about 30, possibly North African.
GENEVA, SWITZERLEAND -Western leaders’ promises of help to the Afghan government when their troops leave, made Monday at an international conference in Germany, appeared to offer smaller hopes of peace following deadly attacks in Kabul and a city in the north Tuesday 6 December.
Close to 60 people died and 160 were injured when a suicide bomber attacked Shi’ite Muslims at a Kabul shrine crowded with religious observers.The blast was the worst in three years. Several of the wounded are reportedly in critical condition
The Irish Times reports that “a Pakistani militant group with close ties to al-Qaeda said it carried out the attack, although security sources could not confirm the group’s involvement.” Aljazeera says attention is focusing on Sunni groups based in Pakistan, but it is unclear as yet who is to blame.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Guardian (photo gallery), Irish Times, Reuters
Eliot Berthon, out for the season to repair dislocated shoulder
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva-Servette Hockey Club received the bad news Tuesday 29 November that 19-year-old French attacker Eliot Berthon will be out for the season. Berthon was earlier told to stay off the ice for up to six weeks to recover from a shoulder injury he sustained 10 days ago. But yesterday doctors said his dislocated shoulder is not healing as they hoped and he will need surgery to repair it correctly.
The player was injured 20 November during an Elite Juniors match with Zug. He also suffered a concussion.
GSHC is asking fans not to try to contact Berthon without going through the club, in order to give him time and privacy to recover.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A major manhunt is on for the person who walked into a McDonald’s in Biel/Bienne and opened fire shortly after 08:00 Monday morning 28 November. Two employees were injured, one of them critically. Police say it is not yet clear if robbery was involved or if any money was taken. A third employee was near the restaurant but was uninjured.
The man who escaped is 160-165cm tall and heavyset. He was masked at the time of the shooting and was dressed in a black cap, beige jacket, jeans and dark shoes.
Bern police are asking witnesses or anyone with information to phone the cantonal police at +41 32 344 5111.
The fast-food restaurant and several shops in the area were closed for much of the day.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police amplified Tuesday evening on earlier vague news of gunshots going off in the small town of Lucens in canton Vaud Monday night 31 October. One man, age 30, from Kosovar and without a known address in Switzerland, was injured when a bullet struck him in the thorax. He was sitting in a car with two other men and the trio got into a dispute with two men who were standing near their apartment in Lucens.
The others are Swiss and Kosovars between the ages of 22 and 34. All have police records.
Shots rang out and the driver of the car was hit but drove off. Emergency services were called and a police patrol intercepted the car, where the two uninjured man were trying to take care of the wounded man as they headed towards Lausanne from Le Broye. The man was hospitalized and the four others placed under provisional arrest at Vaud Police headquarters at La Blecherette2
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich police say one woman was killed and a second is in critical condition with several bullet wounds after a man opened fire in front of the town hall in Pfäffikon, near Zurich, shortly before noon, reports news agency ATS. A man has been arrested but no further details are available.
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.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist was seriously injured but his life is not in danger following an accident late Sunday near Aigle. Friday 5 August a 38-year-old man lost his life in similar circumstances, also near Aigle.
The accident Sunday occurred at 17:30 on the Aigle to Mosses road, when the motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, attempted to pass a line of cars near the Vuargney gallery (partly covered section). He slammed into an oncoming car.
The earlier accident occurred on the cantonal road near Aigle and the motorcyclist was critically injured when he tried to pass a line of cars and hit a car as it pulled out to overtake others. He later died in hospital.
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.
Dreieckhorn on the left, Aletschhorn on the right (photo, Wikipedia)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 28-year-old Dutch woman died when she fell 200 metres and her 28-year-old climbing companion was gravely injured when he tried to save her and then also fell, late Monday 11 July, near Aletsch, in canton Valais.
The two fell as they were coming down from the Dreieckhorn. They were part of a group of four Dutch climbers who were not roped together.
The woman slipped and lost her balance, and when one of the others tried to grab her he, too, slipped and fell into a void.
The two others contacted emergency services and an Air Zermatt helicopter plus a mountain rescue team went to the scene. The injured man, whose life is not in danger, was taken by helicopter to the Ile de Berne Hospital.
Trient glacier area accident, Valais: climbers hit by Copt Couloir rockfall
Update 19:50 SION, SWITZERLAND – A French climber died early Sunday 3 July when he and another climber, also French, were surprised by a rock fall. A 23-year-old Valais man died three hours later when he fell 400 metres to his death.
Two French climbers were roped together, climbing the Copt Couloir, heading towards the Tête de Biselx near the Trient glacier, at 06:15 when the rocks fell. One man caught a rock in the head, while the second climber was able to avoid the rocks.
After the rockfall, the rope slipped the length of the corridor and the second climber suffered ankle injuries.
The survivor was flown to a hospital for treatment.
Saas Fee accident: man had just removede rope
A 23-year-old Swiss man climbing near Saas Fee died at 09:25 Sunday morning when he was coming down from the north face of the Stecknadeljoch.
He had just finished rappeling and was unhooking himself in order to anchor himself to the wall when he suddenly fell 400 metres, to the Hohbalm glacier.
Spectacular car accident near St Luc-Vissoie in Valais
A 30-year-old Valais man was hospitalized in Sion after his car flipped over several times on a mountainside and landed 140 metres below the place where it left the road.
The accident happened Sunday morning 3 July at 07:50 on the St Luc to Vissoie road. The driver was thrown from him car as it rolled several times, after he missed a curve to the left.
Car rolled 140 metres down the mountainside, landing on the road; driver is in hospital in Sion
The car landed on the road below, 140m lower.
Police, accompanied by a search dog, checked the area after the accident to make sure there were no passengers in the car.
The driver’s alcohol level was above the legal limit, at 0.96. He was flown to the Sion hospital; police have not given his medical condition.
Click on images to view larger
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 36-year-old Frenchman is in critical condition in hospital following a car accident Friday morning at 08:30 on the Vallorbe-Croix cantonal highway, near the La Cula (RC 251a) crossroad. Vaud police say his car left the road for reasons that are not yet clear; the car hit a bank and ended in trees below the road. Emergency services cut him out of the car and he was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Valais police identify 224 kph driver on autoroute near Sierre
Police say they have identified the driver of a car that was clocked at 224 kph on the A9 autoroute 9 June, following an investigation. The 21-year-old Valais man who lives in the region will likely face charges brought by the district attorney and he has been reported to the highway department services responsible for driver’s licenses.
He was caught going 224 kph on the A9 autoroute at Granges, going from Sion to Sierre, Thursday 9 June at 21:15, an area where the speed limit soon drops to 100 kph.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The four-day Swiss Ascension weekend led to a number of accidents in the Lake Geneva region, police report. A 19-year-old Vaud woman lost her life in the early hours of Saturday when the car she was driving hit the pillar of a bridge on the road between Daillens and Eclépens, near Morges. The accident occurred at 01:20 in the morning.
The car rolled down a slope after hitting the bridge, and landed on the CFF railway tracks. Emergency services were alerted immediately but the woman died at the scene of the accident.
The CFF stopped rail service until 06:30, sending out a team to repair the tracks.
Seriously injured cyclist hit by man pulling out of driveway
A cyclist in canton Valais was seriously injured, but his life is not in danger, with several vertebrae broken during an accident Saturday about 15:30. He was cycling on the road from Lourtier towards Champsec. A 37-year-old man pulled out of his driveway, not seeing the cyclist who was coming along the road from his left. The 36-year-old bike rider hit the front left of the car and was thrown 15 metres onto a bank. Both are from the area.
Spate of carelessness fires in Valais
Canton Valais saw two fires over the holiday weekend. One was in a tile-making plant. The other was in Saxon at a home for adults in difficultly, where a cigarette butt was responsible for causing serious damage but no injuries. The fires came just days after a another blaze in Sierre where a woman left candles burning in her bathroom and the curtains caught fire. The fires caused buildings to be evacuated, but there were no injuries.
Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 43-year-old Spanish truck driver hit a parked police car on the A9 autoroute near St Leonard in canton Valais Friday afternoon 15 April. The two policemen in the car, which was stopped near signs for temporary roadworks, were slightly injured, but their car was “heavily damaged” say Valais police in a statement.
The accident, at 09:45 Friday morning, was apparently due to a moment of inattention on the truck driver’s part, say police. He was driving from Sierre to Sion and shortly before an underpass he veered off to the right and the right front of his truck went into the left rear of the police car, which was stopped in the emergency lane.
Two US airmen died after a man opened fire on a US Air Force bus in front of terminal 2 at the Frankfurt international airport Wednesday afternoon. Two other airmen were injured.
The driver and a passenger were killed, both of them shot in the head and the chest, apparently after fight broke out on the bus, and while German authorities have not identified the gunman, Kosovo’s interior minister says he was told by German police the man is from Kosovo, although the information was contradicted by others.
The gunman fled the scene of the shooting and a suspect was arrested inside the airport shortly afterwards.
Links to other sites: Guardian, Washington Post
AP video
International sports, skiing
Austrian skier Hans Grugger
Update 14 March Innsbruck, Austia (GenevaLunch) – Skier Hans Grugger, 29, critically injured in a fall during training in Kitzbuehel, Austria 20 January, was taken out of intensive care 21 February, and photos show him walking, a rapid initial recovery that doctors credited to his superb physical condition, according to the International Ski Federation.
The Austrian national champion was able to speak a few words and press his hand when prompted by 1 February, after being brought out of an induced coma, but he was still sleeping most of the time, doctors reported. He was taken off a respirator Monday 31 January.
Grugger spent several hours in surgery for head injuries following the accident and doctors initially said it would be another few weeks before a full prognosis can be made. He hit his head hard on landing, following a jump where he lost control. He also broke ribs and suffered lung damage in the fall.
By the third week in February, however, he was receiving several forms of therapy daily and responding well, with the outlook far brighter than the accident at first prompted observers to expect.
Links to other sites: AFP, FIS ski federation Grugger updates, Grugger home page (Ge)
Background, GenevaLunch
Samuel Hengel, the 15-year-old student in Marinette, Wisconsin, north of Green Bay in the US, who held then released 24 hostages and then shot and injured himself, died in hospital 30 November. His parents said in a statement that they were “devastated and heartbroken” at the events, but had no idea why it happened.
When police entered the schoolroom after a six-hour stand-off, with the school area cordoned off, Hengel shot himself. The boy, who was joined by his family at the hospital, was said by a former teacher and family friend to have had problems at school but he also described the youth as “one of the sweetest kids you ever want to know.”
Links to other sites: Green Bay Press-Gazette, Huffington Post, LA Times, Sky News
