BRITISH COUPLE AND BABY DIE IN ALPS PLANE CRASH HORROR
AN award-winning British composer, his wife and their sevenmonth-old daughter have died in a plane crash in the Swiss Alps.
Jonathan, Hannah and Saskia Goldstein were flying from Switzerland to Italy when their aircraft fell from the sky.
He had worked on Robert De Niro’s 1991 film Cape Fear, won an Ivor Novello Award and founded his own music production agency.
Saxophonist Hannah was a regular performer with BBC Proms.
Hiker Christian Merz, 63, was walking in the Simplon Pass area when he saw the tragedy unfold.
He described seeing two burning objects fall from the sky, followed by two huge bangs.
Christian also said he saw two people rush towards the plane in a desperate bid to help the family but they were unable to get near it due to the flames.
Police later confirmed three people – including a baby – were killed in the crash, which happened on Sunday morning. The Goldsteins’ Married three years...the Goldsteins
London neighbour, known only as Ankita, 30, was caring for their rabbit Rufus when Hannah’s father broke the news to her.
She revealed: “We were friendly with each other. We’ve only lived here three months. They have a pet rabbit, and we both have little ones.
“I started speaking to Hannah quite often about six weeks ago. She asked if I could look after Rufus because they said they were going on vacation.
“We were out yesterday and when we returned, I noticed the hutch was missing. I tried ringing Hannah and Jonathan but their phones weren’t connecting. Hannah had given me her parents’ numbers so I called her dad last night.
“I said I was sorry to ring so late as it was about 9.15pm but I couldn’t find Rufus. He said there was a tragic accident and the three of them died.
“After that, I don’t remember what happened as I started crying.”
Ankita added: “Hannah had said they were going to Italy and the weather might be bad. I still can’t believe it. I couldn’t sleep.”
Her IT consultant husband Pavan, 31, said Hannah’s father did not know exactly what happened.
The couple had flown from London in their Piper PA-28 Arrow on Saturday morning and landed in Troyes, France. They made a second stop in Lausanne on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where they are believed to have stayed overnight.
Local police said the family took off for Perugia, Umbria, from the Vaudois airfield at 9am the following day but crashed just over an hour into the flight.
Simplon Pass, where the plane came down, is a route through that connects Switzerland and Italy.
An inquiry is under way by the Federal Safety Investigation Authority. Jonathan and Hannah are believed to have been married for three years and bought their plane several years ago.
He previously reached No1 in the
Official UK Classical Charts with his track Magical Moments.
His company Goldstein Music Group won awards for scores on adverts for big-name brands including Gillette, Volvo, Heineken and Sky Movies. He won his Ivor Novello in 2007 for his score to the BBC/HBO film Primo, a monologue about Auschwitz starring Antony Sher.
Jonathan also worked with HBO, the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.
His wife, who performed as Hannah Marcinowicz, worked with the London Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra.
A Foreign Office spokesman last night said: “Our staff are assisting the relatives of a British family who died in a plane accident in western Switzerland and are also in contact with the local authorities.”