Court dates announced for army accidents

Swiss army investigators have pressed charges against an officer and two mountain guides involved in mountaineering and rafting accidents over the past two years.

In July 2007, six soldiers died in an avalanche while climbing the Jungfrau mountain. Less than a year later, five died while rafting on the Kander river in the Bernese Oberland.

The military justice authorities levelled multiple involuntary manslaughter charges in both cases, as well as disregard for army regulations.

The officer involved in the rafting accident will also have to answer to charges of bodily injury caused by negligence and misuse and the destruction of equipment.

The six recruits who died on the Jungfrau were swept away by an avalanche most likely set off by the mountaineering party, the investigators said. The risk of avalanche was high on the day in question.

The investigation into the rafting mishap found that the rafting trip was poorly planned and that the troops involved were inexperienced.

The rafting trial will take place on October 20 and 21 in Thun in front of a military tribunal, while the avalanche case will go to court a month later in Chur.

swissinfo.ch and agencies