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VAUD CANTONAL POLICE

Truck driver dead after crash with hedge trimmer

One man is dead and two people seriously injured following the collision of a truck and a highway hedge and grass trimming vehicle on Monday in the canton of Vaud.

Published: 22 July 2013 23:16 CEST
Truck driver dead after crash with hedge trimmer
Photo: François Ruchti/RTS

The incident occurred around 8am when a tractor trailer struck the roadside maintenance vehicle from behind on the Route de Berne, between the village of Montpreveyres and Ropres, Vaud cantonal police said.

The driver of the maintenance vehicle, a 60-year-old local man, was ejected from the cab and suffered serious injuries, police said.

The 30-year-old man driving the truck, from the canton of Fribourg, died from the injuries he received shortly after arriving at the hospital.

A 13-year-old boy, also from Fribourg, who accompanied the truck driver was in serious condition after being thrown from the vehicle.

He was transported by helicopter to the university hospital in Lausanne (CHUV) for treatment.

The truck with a pup trailer was hauling merchandise for the Denner supermarket chain.

The cantonal road was closed to traffic all morning as emergency crews dealt with the collision.

An investigation has been launched to determine the causes of the crash.

Vaud police are seeking witnesses to help establish what happened.

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FRIBOURG

Drunk man dies trying to board train in Lausanne

Questions are being raised about the death of an inebriated 64-year-old man who fell between a train and the station platform in Lausanne less than two hours hours after police at another Swiss station checked him for being drunk.

Published: 19 August 2013 21:35 CEST
Drunk man dies trying to board train in Lausanne
InterCity train. Photo: Swiss Federal Railways

The victim, a Polish citizen, attempted to board an InterCity train heading to Geneva late Sunday afternoon as it was pulling out of the station, according to a report from La Liberté newspaper, citing a statement issued by Vaud cantonal police.

The man directed an unsteady foot in the direction of the carriages, “tried to hang on to the moving train . . , (and) lost his balance before falling between the platform and the railway tracks,” police said.

La Liberté reported that one of the victim’s legs, jammed between the train and the edge of platform number 5, was severed.

A doctor, two ambulance attendants and firemen quickly arrived on the scene but were unable to save the man, who died from his injuries.

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) earlier notified Fribourg cantonal police at around 3.20pm that the man was drunk and had fallen on the floor of a train travelling from Geneva to Lucerne, La Liberté reported.

Two doctors travelling on the train had first noticed him and the fact he had a gash on his forehead.

At the Fribourg train station, cantonal police checked the man, who told officers that he lived in Lausanne, La Liberté reported.

Police then accompanied him on to another InterCity train heading to the Vaud capital, where he fell asleep, the newspaper said.

SBB staff woke the man up when the train arrived in Lausanne and an employee accompanied him to a bench on the platform.

The victim died while trying to board the train he had just got off, police said.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of the accident.

It was the second fatal accident involving a train in the canton of Vaud on Sunday.

A 24-year-old pedestrian was struck by a train at around 6am on the Montreux-Oberland Bernois (MOB) railway near Les Avants, a village several kilometres northeast of Montreux.

The victim, a local resident, became separated from a group of friends after visiting a local music festival, Vaud police said.

Police are still looking into the causes of the mishap.

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