The accident happened between Lax and Fiesch in canton Valais
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A popular tourist train travelling between Lax and Fiesch in canton Valais derailed on Friday, leaving at least 15 people injured.
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Three carriages from the Glacier Express came off the track for unknown reasons shortly after 12pm near a viaduct in the Goms Valley. Eyewitnesses said one carriage had tipped over and two others remained upright. No deaths have been reported so far.
Rescue workers, including five helicopter crews from Air Zermatt, several dozen firemen, paramedics and police officers were on the scene. The condition and exact number of injured was still being confirmed, Valais cantonal police said. All of the passengers had been evacuated.
“We have to expect that the train was quite full because it’s the height of the tourist season,” Peter Abgottspon, a reporter on site with Radio Rottu, a regional broadcaster, told swissinfo.ch. “The Glacier Express train is always quite full at this time of year.”
A guide accompanying a group of tourists who was on the train told swissinfo.ch that most of the injured were Japanese. Two people were heavily injured. They were taken to hospital in Visp.
The Glacier Express is one of Switzerland’s best-known tourist trains. It travels through some of the country’s most spectacular alpine terrain between Zermatt and St Moritz.
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