Three people have died after a small single-engine aeroplane crashed in the Alps in southwest Switzerland, it emerged today.
Valais cantonal police said in a statement that the aircraft collided with the northern slope in the area of Fluhalp on Tuesday, near the mountain resort of Leukerbad.
All three passengers aboard perished, police said, adding that they were working to identify the victims.
Emergency services rushed to the site, with three helicopters and two rescue specialists deployed.
After taking off from Lugano in the southern Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, the aeroplane made a stop in the Valais city of Sion before heading off towards the Buochs aerodrome in the central canton of Nidwalden.
Residents alerted emergency services after seeing smoke rising from the aircraft.
The federal Swiss authorities have opened an investigation into the causes of the accident.
Meanwhile, a criminal investigation is being led by the Office of the Attorney General of the Confederation, in collaboration with the Valais cantonal police, according to local authorities.
Three people died on Tuesday after a small single-engine aeroplane crashed in the Alps in southwest Switzerland
A picture of the crash site shared by local police showed the wreckage of the plane on a mountainside.
‘Shortly after 4 p.m., for reasons yet to be determined, the aircraft collided with the northern slope of a mountain in the Fluhalp area of Leukerbad. Signs of smoke were subsequently reported in the region,’ a police statement said.
The tragedy in the Swiss Alps comes just days after several people died after a coach carrying tourists crashed and flipped over on a mountain road in Switzerland.
The tour coach carrying 48 people overturned in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubunden, the largest holiday region in Switzerland, at 8pm last Thursday,
The vehicle hit a safety barrier before flipping over and plunging down the embankment, a local police spokesperson told Swiss media.
Emergency services swarmed the scene, working around the coach as it lay on its side on an embankment next to the carriageway. Helicopters were seen landing near the incident.
The Dutch Federation of Travel Agencies (ANVR) identified the coach as belonging to Oad, a Dutch tour company that runs holiday trips across Europe. It added all 48 passengers were from the Netherlands.
Local authorities confirmed the fatalities, though they have not released the number of victims nor nationalities.
‘Several people died in the coach crash in Susch. Several others were also injured,’ the cantonal police said on X, without giving details on the circumstances of the accident or the victims’ identities.
A police spokesman said that the force did not wish to provide a more detailed toll until the victims’ families had been informed.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
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