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SWITZERLAND-MOUNTAINS-ACCIDENT
Five die in plane, glider crashes in Swiss Alps
GENEVA, June 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Five people died when a glider and a small
plane crashed in the Swiss Alps at the weekend, police said Monday, adding that
they were investigating whether the two accidents were linked.
A small plane with the pilot and three other people on board, including a child,
crashed on the Piz Neir mountain in eastern Switzerland on Saturday, killing
everyone onboard, regional police in the canton of Graubunden said in a
statement.
The wreckage was found on Sunday by rescue workers out looking for a glider that
crashed nearby on Saturday, killing the pilot.
The glider had crashed about one kilometre away from where the plane was found,
at an altitude of 2,700 metres (8,850 feet) above the village of Bivio.
Poor weather had made it impossible for rescue workers to access that crash site
when they first got the call Saturday evening.
The formal identification of the victims had yet to be completed on Monday, the
police statement said.
The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) was investigating the
cause of the accidents, including whether there was a connection between them, it
added.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1146 hrs