Dramatic search campaign on the idyllic Lake Lucerne in Switzerland!
An SUV fell about 50 meters down a narrow road by the water. The accident is likely to keep rescue workers busy for the whole week. Because experts have located the dark car at a depth of 182 meters, and all occupants are missing.
So far, the officials have been able to reconstruct at least parts of the accident: the car was driving on Axenstrasse near Brunnen (Canton Schwyz) around 12 noon on Sunday. Shortly after the Wolfsprung parking lot, the SUV touched the rock face to the right of the road, pulled to the left and then broke through a railing.
Here the SUV crashed into the depths. Good to see: the open railing
Incomprehensible: There is no crash barrier at the point where 80 km/h was allowed until the horror crash (now temporarily only 60). Local politician Bruno Storni told the 20min.ch portal: “The railing is for pedestrians so they don’t fall off. But it never withstands a car.” Not having set up a crash barrier there was “a serious mistake in terms of safety”.
Rescue workers have been looking for survivors for several hours – so far without success. Divers were also deployed, but could only descend to a depth of 40 meters. The police finally deployed a special boat with underwater cameras and sonar.
A helper is looking for accident parts
This enabled the car to be located on the bottom of the lake at a depth of 182 meters. However, according to local media, two crane ships left the scene of the accident without having done anything. The authorities confirmed on Tuesday evening that the rescue had been canceled. However, spokesman Florian Grossmann did not give a reason. Work will continue on Wednesday.
The plan is to first drag the wrecked car to a depth of around 30 meters, where divers can better search for victims. The SUV is then to be pulled into a protected area of Lake Lucerne in order to examine the car at leisure.
Experts from the Swiss Federal Office visit the accident site on Axenstrasse
At least the investigators have an initial indication of the person or persons who went missing: a helper found a license plate at the crash site and the car is registered in Zurich.
How fast the SUV was traveling is part of the investigation. Swiss media write of “higher speed”. The impact against the rock face was so severe that a wheel came off and crashed into an oncoming car. His passenger was slightly injured.