Dramatic search operation at Lake Lucerne in Switzerland!
An SUV plunged about 50 meters down a narrow road into the water. The crash will keep rescuers busy for a week. Because experts found the dark car at a depth of 182 meters, and all the passengers were missing.
So far, the authorities have been able to reconstruct at least the minimum parts of the accident: the car was driving on Achsenstrasse near Brunnen (Canton of Switzerland) around 12 noon on Sunday. Shortly into the Wolfsprung parking lot, the SUV hit a rock face on the right side of the road, pulled to the left and then struck a guardrail.
Here the SUV fell into the deep and crashed. Nice to see: open rails
Unfathomable: Where the speed limit was 80 until the tragic accident (now temporarily only 60), there is no crash prevention. Bruno Storni, a local politician, told the portal “20min.ch”: “The paths are for pedestrians, so they don’t fall. But it doesn’t hit a car.” Not installing a crash barrier is a “big mistake in terms of safety”.
Rescue workers have been searching for survivors for hours – so far without success. Divers were also stationed, but could only descend to a depth of 40 meters. Finally the police sent a special boat equipped with underwater cameras and sonar.
An assistant looks for crash parts
This allowed the car to be positioned at the bottom of the lake at a depth of 182 meters. However, according to local media, two crane vessels left the accident site without doing anything. Officials confirmed Tuesday evening that the rescue mission had been called off. However, spokesman Florian Grossmann did not give a reason. Work will continue on Wednesday.
Plans are to first tow the wrecked car to a depth of about 30 meters, where divers can better search for victims. The SUV is towed into the protected area of Lake Lucerne to inspect the car at leisure.
Experts from the Swiss Federal Office visit the crash site on Axenstrasse
At least investigators have their first clue of a missing person: an assistant found a license plate at the scene of the accident and the car is registered in Zurich.
Part of the investigation is how fast the SUV was traveling. Swiss media write “high speed”. The impact against the rock face was so severe that a wheel came off and crashed into an oncoming car. His passenger suffered minor injuries.
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