Recovery of the aircraft wreckage from Lake Lucerne is on course
Keystone-SDA
The recovery of the small plane that sank on July 28 began in Lake Lucerne on Tuesday morning.
The aircraft was stuck about a hundred metres below the surface with its nose in the silt. In the morning, it was pulled out of the silt and raised to around 15 metres below the surface.
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There it is being prepared to be hoisted out of the water, as a spokesperson for the Lucerne police told the media. Holes will be drilled so that the water can flow out of the wreck. If the salvage operation is successful, the wreck will then be taken away on a barge.
In addition to the police and fire brigade, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, that is leading the investigation, and the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB), which is investigating the cause of the accident, were also on site.
The aircraft, a Daher TBM-940, had taken off from Buochs in canton Nidwalden in the direction of Burg Feuerstein in Germany. After flying for around three minutes, it crashed into the lake north of Bürgenstock. The single-engine turboprop aircraft then sank around 100 metres to the bottom of the lake.
The two occupants of the aircraft were rescued by the Nidwalden cantonal police. The 78-year-old pilot survived the accident unharmed, while the 55-year-old female passenger was injured and taken to hospital.
Adapted from German by DeepL/ac
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