(UTV|COLOMBO) Twenty people have died after a World War Two vintage aircraft crashed into a mountainside in eastern Switzerland, police say.
The plane – a Junkers JU-52 HB-HOT – was carrying 17 passengers and three crew on a sightseeing flight when it took off on Saturday afternoon.
Operator JU-Air said it was saddened by the news and it had set up a helpline for relatives. It has suspended all flights until further notice.
The cause of the crash is not known.
The passengers were returning to Zurich from a two-day excursion in Locarno near Switzerland’s southern border.
Although there were eyewitnesses to the crash, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes says that the investigation into what happened will take time.
The plane had no black box, and the remote alpine location of the crash means there was little radar monitoring.
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