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STORM

Strong winds cause chaos for Swiss roads and airports

Stormy weather and strong winds proved hazardous across Switzerland on Thursday, with planes struggling to land and trucks swept off the roads.

Strong winds cause chaos for Swiss roads and airports
Photo: phil_bird/Depositphotos
After a rather mild start to the day, an active cold front swept across the country bringing rain and high winds of up to 120km/hr in the mountains, MeteoNews said in a statement. 
 
Temperatures are likely to drop sharply throughout the day, with the snow level descending as low as 1,500m in parts of the country, it said. 
 
The high winds became a problem at Zurich’s Kloten airport on Thursday morning where a Singapore Airlines airbus was buffeted off course as it attempted to land. After three aborted attempts it diverted to Frankfurt in Germany, reported Swiss media
 
Traffic was also affected with several vehicles pushed off the roads. 
 
The A1 motorway between Lausanne and Yverdon-les-Bains was closed after a lorry overturned, and another truck was pushed off the same motorway at Niederbipp in the canton of Bern, said 20 Minuten.
 

 

 

SKIING

Two skiers killed in Swiss avalanche

Two cross-country skiers have been killed in an avalanche near the plush resort of Klosters in southeast Switzerland, police said Saturday.

Two skiers killed in Swiss avalanche

The accident happened on Friday, the Graubunden regional police said.

“In the Schintersiten area they took a slope with a steep gradient,” a police statement said.

“Several avalanches broke out and dragged the two men about 200 metres down the rocky terrain.

“As a result, both the 54-year-old and his 57-year-old companion, both of whom lived in the canton of Bern, were fatally injured.”

The Graubunden public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation alongside the cantonal police.

Before Friday’s accident, 12 people had lost their lives in avalanches in Switzerland since October 1 last year, according to statistics from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.

A total of 142 avalanche-related accidents have occurred, with 188 people swept away.

Earlier this month, six cross-country skiers went missing in a storm near the southern luxury resort of Zermatt. The group, aged 21 to 58, included five members of the same family.

Five bodies were recovered and the search for the sixth person was ultimately called off.

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