The crash site of the plane accident at the Simplon Pass can be seen in this Valais cantonal police picture
Keystone/Kantonspolizei Wallis
A small plane has crashed in the Simplon Pass area in the Swiss Alps, killing three people on board, authorities say.
This content was published on
1 minute
AP/SRF/ilj
Police in the canton of Valais saidExternal link the Piper plane set off Sunday morning at 9 am from an airfield in western Switzerland for Italy. At around 10:30 am it crashed “due to unexplained circumstances” above the pass near the Italian border and burst into flames, a statement said.
The bodies of the pilot, a passenger and a small child were recovered from the wreckage. Police said they are still being formally identified.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. Accident investigators have started work, the statement added.
The Simplon Pass, which is 2,005 metres above sea level, connects southern Switzerland with northern Italy.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
The citizenship obstacle course facing spouses of Swiss Abroad
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Swiss government wants mandate to handle drug shortages
This content was published on
The Swiss government wants the power take action in the event of critical medicine shortages in future, rather than cantons and the private sector.
This content was published on
The Bern Commercial Criminal Court has thrown out a fraud case against Postbus due to a "serious deficiency" in police procedures.
Swiss wage protection measures agreed ahead of EU deal
This content was published on
Trade unions and Swiss cantons agree on domestic measures to protect wages, to pave the way for a treaty cementing future ties with the EU.
Swiss commodities trader Glencore faces $1.6bn loss
This content was published on
According to preliminary figures, Swiss commodities trader and mining group Glencore slipped into the red with a $1.6 billion loss in 2024.
Diplomat murder case: defendant to appeal rape conviction
This content was published on
A man acquitted of murdering an Egyptian diplomat in Geneva in 1995, will appeal his conviction for other offences, including rape.
This content was published on
1. The Gotthard Pass is legendary. As the scene of a swearing of allegiance between the first cantons in 1291 and of resistance against wartime occupation, the Gotthard region has a unique aura. Even the Matterhorn doesn’t have the symbolic value of this massif: the cradle of the confederation, the centre of the Alps, the…
This content was published on
Officially inaugurated on May 19, 1906, it was for many years the longest in the world but it has never caught the spotlight as much as another major alpine tunnel – the Gotthard. “The Simplon tunnel has been in the shadow of the Gotthard tunnel for a long time, but actually it’s a very important…
This content was published on
The peaks were buried in clouds, but I can’t use that as an excuse for avoiding the exact border. I’d already decided that learning about this pass would be vastly more interesting than scrambling over another glaciated peak. Plenty of huge mountains coming up in the next two weeks. So today I alternated between hiking…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.