Eight face trial over alpine flood deaths
Eight former employees of a Swiss tour operator go on trial today accused of the negligent killing of 21 young people, including three British people, who drowned in an Alpine flood two years ago.
The picturesque resort of Interlaken became a place of horror on July 27, 1999, when a flash flood drowned the 18 tourists and three guides, sweeping them down to a lake where they were discovered by a jogger.
The tragedy occurred when a sudden rush of water from a thunderstorm caught the group of ‘‘canyoners’’ by surprise in the Saxet Brook above Interlaken.
Swiss authorities last year filed charges of manslaughter through culpable negligence against eight former associates of the now-defunct Swiss tour operator Adventure World.
The defendants are three directors of the company, two guides who survived, the ‘‘lead guide’’ who authorised the trip, and two guide instructors.
They are all accused of allowing the trip to go ahead even though the thunderstorm was clearly visible.
Prosecutors say the guides failed to get the group out of the brook even when the water level rose and the water turned muddy - managers are accused of giving the guides insufficient training.
The fatal trip occurred during a European coach tour for 45 young people.
Eight Adventure World guides took them, in four groups, to Saxet Brook. They were supposed to jump, slide and rappel down rocks and swim downstream without a raft in the new sport of canyoning.
The first and fourth groups made it to safety, but as the second and third groups were in the water, they were struck by the wall of water.
The victims included a honeymooning couple, a young doctor and one of the tour bus drivers who had decided to take a break and join in that day’s activities. The youngest victim was 18.
The bodies recovered from Lake Brienz were so badly battered that it took authorities days to identify them.
Fourteen of the victims were Australian and the others came from New Zealand, Britain, South Africa and Switzerland.
The body of one Australian woman has never been found.
The trial is expected to last until December 11.
Swiss law does not set a maximum sentence for negligent manslaughter, stating only that it should be punished with a prison sentence or a fine.
Justice officials have said that if Bern state law is applied, the longest sentence would be one year.
Last year, two other Adventure World employees were given five-month suspended sentences for the negligent manslaughter of Matthew Coleman from the US.
The 22-year-old slammed into the ground after jumping with a bungee rope that was too long.
Adventure World closed down after Mr Coleman’s death, which came less than a year after the canyoning disaster.
