SHARE
COPY LINK

FRANCE

Plane crashes by Swiss border killing two

Two people including the pilot were killed and a teenage girl was injured on Monday when a private plane crashed near the Swiss border in the French Alps, emergency officials and police said.

Plane crashes by Swiss border killing two
File photo of a private jet. Photo: Shine2010/flickr

The plane, a PRM1 corporate jet, crashed around 9:00 am (0800 GMT) in a farm yard near the Annemasse airfield in France's Haute-Savoie region, not far from Geneva, officials said.

A police source said that the pilot, a man aged around 50, was killed and that the injured girl, aged around 15, had indicated to rescuers that she was his daughter. She suffered serious injuries to the pelvis but her life was not in danger, the source said.

The cause of the accident and the identity of the second person who died were not immediately clear.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.

They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of farmers’ protests?

“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.

The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.

The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.

READ ALSO 5 minutes to understand French farmer protests

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.

The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.

The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.

The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.

SHOW COMMENTS