Swiss Jet Crashes Near Zurich, at Least 10 Dead

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 26, 2001

Swiss Jet Crashes Near Zurich, at Least 10 Dead

A Swiss airliner crashed on its approach to Zurich airport late on Saturday after a flight from Berlin, killing at least 10 of the 33 people aboard and injuring others.

Swiss Jet Crashes Near Zurich, at Least 10 Dead

A Swiss airliner crashed on its approach to Zurich airport late on Saturday after a flight from Berlin, killing at least 10 of the 33 people aboard and injuring others.

Police at the wintry crash scene at Birchwil, just a few miles from the runway, said at least nine people had so far been found alive and that rescuers feared others could be wandering dazed in the dark in surrounding woodland.

At least 10 bodies had been recovered, a police spokesman said.

There was no word on the cause of the crash of the four-engined Crossair jet but the police spokesman said there was no indication the plane had been attacked. The weather was poor at the time of the incident.

Crossair Plane Carrying 32 People Crashes Near Zurich

A spokesman for the airline said the 97-seat RJ-100 Avro Jumbolino, built by British Aerospace, had been carrying 27 passengers and five crew from Berlin's Tegel airport.

Crossair's scheduled flight LX3597 had taken off from the German capital about an hour before crashing in a wooded area just north of Zurich airport shortly after 10 pm (4 pm EST).

A spokesman for Crossair, which is to become Switzerland's national carrier following the failure of Swissair, said hospitals near the airport had been put on high alert.

``We are deeply saddened,'' Crossair chief executive Andre Dose told Swiss television.

``Our thoughts are with the families of the victims.''

Dose declined to speculate what impact the crash, its second in just under three years, would have on the company as it steps up from regional airline to national flag carrier following the collapse of Swissair under a mountain of debt.

A Crossair plane crashed on January 10, 1999, shortly after taking off from Zurich for Dresden. All 10 aboard were killed.