Balloon crash family are ‘out of danger’

Three members of an American family who survived the crash of a hot-air balloon in Montbovon with serious injuries are out of danger.

Published: 7 August 2013 16:56 CEST

Balloon crash family are ‘out of danger’

The accident happened close to Montbovon in the canton of Fribourg. Photo: www.montbovon.ch

The husband was killed in the accident on Tuesday morning when the balloon touched a power cable as it came in to land and plummeted 50 metres to the ground.

Fribourg cantonal authorities said the mother and her two daughters aged 20 and 24 were still in hospital, the Swiss news service SDA reported.

The pilot was also injured but did not have life-threatening injuries, it said.

The crash victims were tourists from Malibu in California who were staying in Gstaad in the Bernese Oberland.

The husband is reported to have been a descendant of the city’s founders.

The Malibu Times reported that one of the daughters had undergone a successful operation.

The balloon belonged to the five-star Grand Hôtel Park in Gstaad.

The pilot was an "experienced and recognized balloonist", the hotel said in a statement.

The family had taken off from Château d'Oex, which is well known for its annual balloon festival.

Swiss investigators are looking into the cause of the accident. Flying conditions on Tuesday morning are reported to have been good.

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A Swiss appeals court confirmed Monday the acquittal of six police officers over the death of a Nigerian man, in a case that drew comparisons to George Floyd’s killing in the United States.

As with the lower court verdict a year ago acquitting the officers of negligent homicide in the case of Mike Ben Peter, Monday’s ruling sparked immediate protests and chants of “Shame!” outside the courthouse.

Around 80 people crowded outside the court, shouting: “Black lives matter!”, “Justice for Mike”, and “Police kill, the judiciary acquits!”

The 39-year-old Nigerian died following a violent arrest after he refused a police drug search in Lausanne in western Switzerland in early 2018.

In the encounter with the six police officers, he was pinned to the ground on his stomach. He died in hospital a few hours later after suffering a heart attack.

His death initially received little attention, but the global outcry over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 placed a bigger spotlight on the Swiss case.

During the first trial in June last year, a court in Lausanne ruled that the six officers involved in the incident could not be found guilty of negligent homicide.

The public prosecutor’s office also decided to drop the charges, referring in particular to forensic analyses that were unable to state with certainty that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.

After three days of hearings last week at the appeals court in Renens, near Lausanne, the three judges confirmed the lower court ruling, acquitting the officers of negligent homicide.

They also acquitted them on an additional charge of abusing their authority, brought by the lawyer of Ben Peter’s family, Simon Ntah.

As with during the first trial, the judges relied heavily on forensic expert testimony to reach their conclusion.

The experts testified that it was impossible to say for certain that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.