- In southern Switzerland, an avalanche caused a train with 80 passengers to derail.
- The derailment occurred on Monday morning near Goppenstein in the canton of Valais.
- Rescuers are on the scene, the evacuation of passengers will begin soon.
- Due to the avalanche, the train service between Goppenstein and Brig was interrupted.
On Monday morning, a train carrying about 80 passengers derailed due to an avalanche in southern Switzerland. TASR informs about it according to the AFP agency. “Train derailment, possibly with injuries,” regional police said in a post on the X social network that the derailment had occurred at 07:00 near Goppenstein. Rescuers have already started working on the scene and it is expected that the evacuation of passengers will begin soon.
Swiss rail operator SBB said on its website that train services are interrupted between Goppenstein and Brig due to the avalanche. The track will be closed until about 4:00 p.m. According to the online news portal Pomona.ch, the train derailed in the Stockgrabe area between Goppenstein and Hohtenn in the canton of Valais.
According to the website Blick.ch, Goppenstein is located at the exit of the Lötschberg railway tunnel. An avalanche already fell there on Thursday, but no injuries were reported. The avalanche danger was still valid there, the fall of the avalanche was originally expected only in the afternoon, but it happened earlier. The BLS railway company said the derailed train was a regional express that left Spiez near Bern around 06:00.
