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
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A French driver in his 30s is in serious condition at the Chuv (University Hospitals) in Lausanne, reports the Tribune de Geneve, following an early morning head-on collision near La Givrine, in the Jura mountains above St Cergue. The driver was passing other cars at 06:45 on the snowy road that links France and Switzerland but the line of cars on his side of the two-lane road was too tight for him to get back in line. The other driver, also French and in his 40s according to the paper, suffered rib and hand injuries. La Givrine is some 16 km above Nyon.
Geneva police looking for hit-run driver near UN Monday evening
Home robberies in canton Vaud, first week of November 2010: total number 100
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Geneva are warning the public to be on the alert for the first of holiday season charity scams. Several complaints have been filed with police against individuals collecting money for an organization, “Le respect, ça change la vie”, using copies of the group’s logo. The people collecting money have nothing to do with the charitable organization and are taking money under false pretenses.
Leave a light on at home
Vaud police, who report 100 home robberies for the first week of November, higher than the October average, are alerting people to leave a light on somewhere in their house or apartment. Dusk comes earlier and many homes are dark before people return home from work.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A fight broke out about 10:30 Sunday morning 7 November between Georgians and Africans at the Lagnon refugee residential centre on the route des Blanchards in Onex.
The two groups battled with scissors, knives and metal bars, injuring 11 people, 7 of whom were sent to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. At least one is reported to be in serious condition.
Police in Geneva say the cause of the fight is not yet known. Nine police patrols, a medical unit of 16 people and six ambulances were called to end the fight and treat the injured.
More than 140 people were injured Sunday 10 October when protesters attacked police trying to allow the Serbia’s second Gay Pride march to go ahead, in Belgrade. Molotov cocktails and rocks were thrown at police, with 124 police officers injured. Serbia has put in a bid to join the European Union and politicians in Serbia who support the bid were concerned late Sunday that the riot would mar that effort. Scores were arrested.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, New Zealand Herald
Olympic downhill champion Didier Defago
Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss skier and Olympic downhill champion Didier Defago will likely be out for the season, after tearing a knee ligament during a fall in training in Zermatt Wednesday 15 September.
The 32-year-old skier will be operated on Saturday at the Hopital de la Tour in Geneva by the ski team’s head doctor, Oliver Siegrist.
One person died in the crash of a Colombian airliner that was carrying 131 people, but 124 are injured, with several of them in critical condition. The plane was split in two as it landed on San Andres island at 01:42 Monday morning 16 August. Bad weather was listed as the cause by some officials, while others reported that the plane was hit by lightning.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – A 20-year-old driver veered into the scene of an accident in Lausanne in the early hours of Thursday, hitting a police car, one police officer standing at the back of the car, and three passengers from a car that had had an accident an hour earlier. All five ended up at the Chuv university hospitals with serious injuries.
The first accident occured at 01:20, when the driver of a car became drowsy and drove off the A1 autoroute between the Maladiere and Malley exits, and up a bank. The car was heading towards Lausanne. No one was injured. At 02:30, while police were investigating the accident and making their report, their vehicle parked in the emergency lane with lights flashing and accident signs out to warn motorists, the driver of the second car drove off the road and into the police car.
The Glacier Express is one of Switzerland's most popular tourist attractions
[Video] Geneva and Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – One person is dead and 42 are injured, in a train crash in the Goms Valley Friday 23 July around noon.
Six of the injured are in critical condition and another six in serious condition, treated in Geneva and Lausanne as well as in regional hospitals. Most of victims are Japanese. Details are still coming in from cantonal police, but Kyodo News in Japan reports that the tourists were part of three different tour groups and most if not all were over age 50 and on one-week tours to Switzerland.
The Glacier Express, which links Zermatt to Andermatten, went off the rails between Lax and Fiesch, heading towards Oberwald.
According to a police spokesperson for canton Valais, the last two cars of the train, which were turned over on their side, were first class cars and could hold up to 30 passengers each. The train may have carried up to 210 people. (photos, TSR, by Keystone)
No cause has been given yet for the crash. The train is owned by 
the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB).
Heavy rains, thunderstorms and fog rolled through the area late Thursday and early Friday, but by early afternoon, with rescue work continuing in the area, skies were starting to clear.
The accident occurred not far from the place where a tourist bus crashed 13 June 2010, killing two Canadians and injuring 28.
Serious rail accidents with mortalities are extremely rare in Switzerland and the Friday accident “interrupts a long record” without deaths reports TSR; the most serious one was 112 years ago.
Video of the train crash – Swiss Television SF Video
A long unemployed man in his 40s attacked a group of four-year-olds in a kindergarten in eastern China, critically injuring two of them and wounding 24 others and three adults before police could stop the attack, reportedly thanks to a milkman hitting the attacker over the head with a mop handle.
The attack in Taixing, Jiangsu province, comes just a day after a 33-year-old man with a history of severe mental problems attacked a school in Guangdong province, injuring a teacher and 16 young children. Five of the chidren in Guangdong are in critical condition.
Suicide bombers triggered explosions in two crowded Metro subways in Moscow early Monday 29 March. The death toll currently stands at 37, with 33 people injured. The first went off about 08:00 at Lubyanka station, during rush hour, and the second 40 minutes later at Park Kultury station. “No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts but suspicion was likely to fall on groups from the North Caucasus, where the Kremlin is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency,” reports the Moscow Times.
Police were saying late morning in Moscow that female terrorists are suspected to have carried the bombs, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Links to other sites: Moscow Times, Ria Novosti
Lyss, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Twenty-six people were injured in Lyss, canton Bern, after a fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday 25 February at a centre for asylum seekers. Cantonal police say there is no reason at this stage of the investigation to suspect criminal activity. The fire broke out shortly after 04:00, waking residents of the centre. Many of them appear to have panicked and jumped out of windows rather than taking the emergency exits, which were open. Several of the injured suffered pelvic fractures from hitting the hard ground when they jumped.
The center has a population of 135 people from 30 countries.
Links to other sites: ats/romandie (Fre), Bern police (Fre)
