Accident on Axenstrasse – Missing car located at a depth of 182 meters – News

  • The previously missing car that crashed into the lake on Axenstrasse on Sunday afternoon was located at a depth of 182 meters shortly after Tuesday afternoon.
  • It was still unclear how many victims were in the car. A camera ship located the car, said Florian Grossmann, spokesman for the Schwyz canton police, at a media event on site.
  • The car involved in the accident had Zurich license plates.

On Sunday at 12 o’clock the car touched a rock during the wolf’s jump, spun across the street and smashed through the railing and fell about 45 meters down, the police said at the media information desk. The vehicle then sank in Lake Lucerne. A large contingent was quickly raised, including police divers, who had made several unsuccessful dives.

The search was suspended on Monday. After intensive preparations for the search at 180 meters, the search was started again with Kapo Zurich on Tuesday morning with a camera ship. The car was then found at a depth of 182 meters. Police say it’s not clear how many people are in the vehicle. With a view to the ongoing investigations, no further information can be given.

The vehicle will now be pulled up in the area where it was found. The aim is to pull the car into an area with a depth where police divers can be deployed. Then there will be a new assessment of the situation. Police say it’s not clear when the car can be recovered.

Correspondent Reto Holzgang: “Location is complicated”


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SRF News: It is a difficult search in Lake Lucerne. Can you estimate how long it will last?

Reto Holzgang: Localization is complicated and depends on various factors. On the one hand, we are fortunate to know that the car crashed at a precise location. On the other hand, the lake is extremely deep at 180 meters. You don’t know exactly how the currents run in the lake and where they washed the car. However, the weather speaks for the search party. It’s cloudy and the lake is calm. This also means that the turbidity is weaker. So you can search relatively well for the car wreck. At the moment, no one dares to predict how long it will take.

The security of the Axenstrasse has been discussed for a long time. Where are you standing?

It is a long tragedy about the Axenstrasse. A new Axenstrasse in the mountain was decided 51 years ago. But the cantons of Schwyz and Uri disagreed for a long time about the route. The federal government came later – today it is a federal highway. The definitive project was presented three or four years ago. The new Axenstrasse is partially blocked by environmental organizations. They request the reduction of the old connection when the new one is in place. This is what the Alpine protection article calls for. The construction of the plant, which will cost more than a billion euros, will take at least another ten years because many tunnels have to be built in difficult mountains.

Is there anything that could be done in the short term to improve security?

Something has been done to ensure safety since Sunday. Normally you rush along the Axenstrasse at 80 kilometers per hour. That has now been reduced to 60 km/h.

Support from other cantons

For further search operations, the Schwyz cantonal police is therefore clarifying the use of special equipment such as diving robots or probes. You are dependent on colleagues from other corps, said Grossmann. These operations required extensive planning.

The investigation into the sunken vehicle and the people affected have not yet been completed, it is said. It is now clear that the car has been redeemed in the canton of Zurich.

According to the police, a loose wheel of the accident vehicle hit an oncoming car. The passenger in the car suffered minor injuries.

The canton police, the rescue service and the Ingenbohl fire brigade with the sea rescue service were deployed in large numbers. The air rescue service was also called out. Axenstrasse had to be temporarily closed due to the accident, and at times traffic was single-lane. A traffic jam formed.

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