A glider and a small plane crashed in high mountains in eastern Switzerland on Saturday causing five deaths, local police said Monday.
The accidents occurred above Bivio in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubunden, where two pilots and three passengers died in the crashes. It is unclear if the accidents are linked.
The glider took off on Saturday from Amlikon in canton Thurgau north of Graubunden with a single pilot on board. The Robin DR400 light aircraft, meanwhile, left Colombier in canton Neuchatel in western Switzerland on Saturday with a pilot and three passengers -- a man, woman and child, according to the police.
The small light aircraft made a stopover at Samedan in canton Graubunden before continuing at 5:20 p.m. local time on its route towards Locarno in canton Ticino.
The Swiss air rescue service Rega contacted the police at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday to inform them that a glider had crashed above Bivio and that the pilot had died. But it was then impossible to access the crash site located at 2,700 meters above sea level due to poor weather.
Rescue teams were able to reach the crashed glider on Sunday. Then they discovered the small aircraft and the dead pilot and passengers. The plane had crashed approximately one kilometer from the glider.
Local officials of Graubunden have opened an investigation to determine the causes of the two accidents and to find out if they were linked.
Plane crashes with five or more fatalities are rare in Switzerland. In 2018, a vintage Junkers Ju-52 plane crashed near Flims in canton Graubunden, killing all 20 passengers. (ANI/Xinhua)
( With inputs from ANI )
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