A family of four lost their lives following the crash of a small aircraft on Saturday morning in Hergiswil, canton Nidwalden. The plane burned down completely, complicating the identification of the victims.
Four people lost their lives Saturday morning in the crash of a small plane in a forest in Hergiswil (NW). These are the parents and two young children.
The family had flown from the airport of Kägiswil (OW) towards France soon after 09:30, announces the police of the canton of Nidwalden in a statement.
As a result of the accident, the surrounding area caught fire. A helicopter had to put out the fire so that the intervention forces could go on the spot.
The plane burned down completely, complicating the identification of the victims. A column of smoke was clearly visible around the scene of the accident.
An investigation was initiated by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with the Swiss Security Investigation Service (SESE), the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Nidwalden and the Cantonal Police, to establish the causes of the tragedy.
Fünfplätzer belonged to Motorfluggruppe
Jost Vogler, Airfield Coordinator at the aerodrome cooperative Obwalden, confirmed to 20 minutes that it is the crashed small aircraft to a machine of the Pilatus MFGP engine group. Specifically, the type Socata TB-10 with five seats.
“I’m absolutely shocked,” says Vogler, who learned about misfortune shortly before lunch. On Saturday morning he had phoned the pilot: “He was looking forward to the flight and was in a good mood.” The misfortune was a mystery to him. “The weather was wonderful and it should be a flight like any other.”
According to Vogler, the light aircraft started shortly after 9.45 am at the Kägiswil OW aerodrome near Sarnen. It was a machine of the Pilatus aircraft group, which was controlled almost exclusively by employees of the Pilatus aircraft factory. She was admitted to five places according to Vogler. Most, however, were at most four people on board.
Destroyed and burned out
In order to get to the crash site, first the fire that had spread in the wooded area had to be extinguished by helicopter. The forces found the plane totally destroyed and burnt out. According to Lorenz Muhmentaler of the operations center of the Cantonal Police Nidwalden assigning the finds at the moment difficult because the aircraft is completely burned out. How much time the identification of the victims take, he could not estimate at the current time.
The reader reporter describes the plane as a small engine airplane. “It’s hard to get on this slope and it’s still burning,” she says. As a result of the crash, it burned in the countryside, Rega, fire, police and fire helicopters were in use. The cause of the crash is determined by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in cooperation with the Sust, the prosecutor Nidwalden and the cantonal police Nidwalden. The police are looking for witnesses.
«We are mourning the loss of the inmates»
The Pilatus engine group wrote on Saturday afternoon that their website will remain offline until further notice. «We mourn the loss of the inmates of HB-EZW, who had an accident on 04.08.2018, and express our deepest condolences to our relatives.»
Between Saturday and Saturday, Saturday afternoon, the “OldtimAIR Flight Parade” on Stanserhorn should have taken place near the scene of the accident , As the website www.stanserhorn.ch was taken from, the event has been postponed to 15 September 2018.
Jürg Balsiger, director of the Stanserhorn Railway, justified the postponement with the accident in Hergiswil. “The concern in the aviation scene is very big. The performance of the event would not have been right at all. “Think of the victims and their relatives.
