Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLICE

Chase ends in tragedy as policeman shot

The life of a 37-year-old policeman is hanging in the balance after he was shot several times near the southern city of Marseille. A suspected burglar was also killed in the gunfight with police

Published: 28 November 2011 10:28 CET

A car chase in the town of Vitrolles, north of Marseille, turned nasty on Sunday night when police tried to arrest suspected burglars on the A7 motorway. A policeman was shot with a Kalashnikov and a suspect killed in the shoot-out.

On Sunday evening, suspected burglars were spotted in a supermarket in the small town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau. Police chased the men and threw a caltrop barrier in front of their car – a stolen Audi – to puncture their tyres on the motorway.

The shoot-out broke out at 3.30am on Monday and police shot a man who was firing a Kalashnikov, according to the French regional daily La Provence. The wounded policeman, who was shot in the head and in the stomach, was taken to a hospital in Marseille.

It is not yet clear whether the other suspects were able to escape the police.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLICE

Two mountaineers killed and 9 injured in ice fall in Swiss mountains

A Frenchwoman and a Spaniard were killed and nine other mountaineers were injured on Friday in an ice fall in southwest Switzerland, police said following a rescue attempt involving several helicopters.

Published: 27 May 2022 17:22 CEST
Two mountaineers killed and 9 injured in ice fall in Swiss mountains

Police received calls at 6.20 am reporting that mountaineers had been caught up in falling seracs — columns of glacial ice formed by crevasses — on the Grand Combin, a glacial massif near the Italian border in the Wallis region.

Seven helicopters with mountain rescue experts flew to the scene, finding 17 mountaineers split among several groups.

“Two people died at the scene of the accident,” Wallis police said in a statement. They were a 40-year-old Frenchwoman and a 65-year-old man from Spain.

Nine mountaineers were airlifted to hospitals in nearby Sion and in Lausanne. Two of them are seriously injured, police said.

Other mountaineers were evacuated by helicopter.

The regional public prosecutor has opened an investigation “to determine the circumstances of this event”, the police said.

The serac fall happened at an altitude of 3,400 metres in the Plateau de Dejeuner section along the Voie du Gardien ascent route.

The Grand Combin massif has three summits above 4,000 metres, the highest of which is the Combin de Grafeneire at 4,314 metres.

The police issued a note of caution about setting off on such high-altitude expeditions.

“When the zero-degree-Celsius isotherm is around 4,000 metres above sea level, it is better to be extra careful or not attempt the route if in doubt,” Wallis police said.

“The golden rule is to find out beforehand from the mountain guides about the chosen route and its current feasibility.”

SHOW COMMENTS