A lifting platform detached from its articulated arm on Tuesday on the site of the Swiss national stud farm in Avenches (VD), dragging its four occupants in its fall. One of them died instantly, the other three injured, one seriously.
The nacelle was at a height of twelve meters at the time of the incident which occurred at the end of the morning, the Vaud cantonal police said in a press release on Tuesday. Its four occupants were on it to count storks in their nest.
Among them, a 76-year-old Swiss resident in the canton of Bern and volunteer for the association “Stork Switzerland”, died on the spot. He was accompanied by two Agroscope employees, a 58-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman.
The manager of the company that owns the nacelle, 48 years old and seriously injured, was with them. The three injured were transported to the Island Hospital in Bern and to the Cantonal Hospital in Friborg (HFR) by ambulance and helicopter.
The public prosecutor went to the scene and the public prosecutor opened a criminal investigation. This accident notably required the intervention of a REGA helicopter, three ambulances from CSU-nvb (Nord vaudois-Broye) and Morat and an inspector from Suva.