On Friday afternoon, a small tourist aircraft crashed near the summit of the Durand Glacier in the southwestern Swiss canton of Valais, killing the pilot and three passengers on board.
The pilot was identified as a 54-year-old man from canton Vaud. The passengers included his 21-year-old son, as well as a 59-year-old Danish woman and her 20-year-old son.
The plane, a four-seater Robin aircraft, took off in the afternoon from the Valais capital of Sion for a pleasure flight, Valais police spokesman Stève Léger told the Swiss News Agency, ATS.
The aircraft was equipped with a beacon, and after the crash, an alert was sent to Swiss air rescue service Rega in Zurich. Rega notified the helicopter rescue service of Air Zermatt, but rescuers could do nothing upon arriving at the scene.
The circumstances of the accident are still unclear. The Valais cantonal police and public prosecutor’s office, as well as the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board, were on the scene Saturday.
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