Pensioner beaches motor boat on canal bank

The 71-year-old man was taken to hospital for minor injuries after launching his power boat onto the banks of the Canal de la Broye, Fribourg cantonal police said on Wednesday.

The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon as the man was navigating alone the 8.8-kilometre canal that links the Neuchâtel and Morat lakes when he lost control of the vessel, police said in a release.

For unknown reasons, he lost his balance and involuntarily accelerated the boat, according to the release.

It zoomed across the canal and slammed into a rocky bank, where it got stuck.

The top speed limit in the canal is 15 kilometres an hour.

Police said there was no damage to “fauna or flora” but the wrecked boat was taken to a nearby shipyard for repairs.

An ambulance took the boat’s operator to hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The incident occurred as warmer weather in many parts of Switzerland has encouraged more boaters to take to Swiss lakes and waterways.

MeteoSwiss, the national weather office, reported temperatures on Wednesday as high as 28 degrees in Basel, Zurich and Sion (in the canton of Valais), while the mercury rose to 26 degrees in Geneva.