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CRASH

Plane crash in Swiss Alps leaves four dead

Two Swiss and two Austrian nationals were killed on Saturday when their small plane crashed in the Swiss Alps, police said

Published: 26 July 2020 11:02 CEST
Plane crash in Swiss Alps leaves four dead

The plane came down in the picturesque area near the Gletscherspitze peak, at an altitude of over 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), in the southern Swiss canton of Wallis, regional police said in a statement.

Wallis police said a witness had first called to report seeing the plane falling from the sky at 12:25 pm (1025 GMT), and had called back a few minutes later to say smoke was rising from the crash site.

Firefighters and rescue workers flown in by helicopter discovered that all four people onboard, two Swiss citizens aged 50 and 66 and two Austrians aged 46 and 50, had perished.

Police said they were cooperating with the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board to probe the crash.

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SKI

Dad’s ‘miracle escape’ after being buried by avalanche in French Alps

A man out walking with his family in the French Alps has made a miraculous escape from an avalanche after spending more than two and a half hours trapped under snow, rescuers said.

Published: 29 January 2021 11:46 CET
Dad's 'miracle escape' after being buried by avalanche in French Alps
Ski lifts in France are closed, but visitors and locals are free to enjoy other outdoor sports. Photo: AFP

The 50-year-old father was snowshoeing near the high-altitude Val d'Isere ski resort with his wife and two children on Thursday without anti-avalanche safety equipment.

“Thank to the mobilisation of nearly 100 people… the man was found alive after two hours and 40 minutes of searching,” the police for the local Savoie département announced on Twitter.

Because of the depth of the snow, rescue dogs were unable to detect a trace, but the man was eventually dug out by a specialised mountain police team which used a Wolfhound device to locate his mobile phone under the ice.

“I think it's a miracle,” Alexandre Grether from the PGHM rescue team told the France 3 local news channel, adding that the man was found 2.5 metres (eight feet) below the surface.

The chances of survival after more than 20 minutes in an avalanche are usually slim.

“He was protected by a tree, that's what prevented him from being crushed by all the ice that slid down. The snow had surrounded him, but he had a pocket of air,” he explained.

The victim is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a fracture to his hip.

The avalanche risk on Thursday was at its maximum – five on a scale of five – and rescuers urge people to always check the snow conditions before venturing out.

READ ALSO 'Whole season a write-off' – what next for France's ski resorts?

Ski lifts in the Alps, which have seen some of their heaviest snowfalls in years in January, are currently closed because of restrictions imposed by the government to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Visitors and locals are free to enjoy hiking, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, but occupancy levels in hotels and chalets are way down and business owners and seasonal staff face serious hardships.

The government has promised an economic support package for the sector.

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