WWII-era airplane crashes in Swiss Alps, killing 20 on board
BERLIN — A World War IIera propeller plane plunged near-vertically into a Swiss mountain, killing all 20 people on board as they returned from a two-day trip to southern Switzerland, investigators said yesterday.
The Junkers Ju-52 plane, operated by small Swiss company Ju-Air, went down Saturday on the Piz Segnas mountain above the Alpine resort of Flims in the country’s southeast, at an altitude of about 8,330 feet above sea level.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, and officials said they expect a complex investigation given that the 79-year-old German plane was not equipped with black boxes.
Police said they had determined that the 17 passengers and three crew members on board the plane all died.
The victims were 11 men and nine women between the ages of 42 and 84 — seven couples from various parts of Switzerland, a couple from neighboring Austria and their son, and the three crew members. Their names were not released.
Photos released by police showed the crumpled wreckage of the plane lying on the mountain, with only the upside-down tail more or less intact. Police said they were not aware of any distress call from the aircraft before it crashed.
The company, which operates two other Ju-52s, suspended flights until further notice after the crash.