Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 24 January 1994 |
Site | Lake Constance, north of Rorschach, Switzerland 47°29′33.79″N9°29′35.58″E / 47.4927194°N 9.4932167°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Cessna 425 |
Flight origin | Prague Ruzyne |
Destination | St. Gallen Altenrhein |
Passengers | 4 |
Crew | 1 |
Fatalities | 3 |
Missing | 2 |
Survivors | 0 |
On 24 January 1994 a Cessna 425 crashed into Lake Constance with 5 people on board. 3 of them are confirmed killed, two are missing. The crash caused significant media attention due to a suspicion the aircraft might be transporting nuclear material which was later found untrue. [1] [2] [3]
The flight left Prague Ruzyne earlier that day with final destination Paris and an intermediate stop in St. Gallen Altenrhein. On board were pilot Rudi Wierschem, businessmen Josef Rimmele and Klaus Eichler (a former East German official [4] ), as well as two barmaids. Mr Rimmele had an outstanding arrest warrant by German authorities for tax evasion and fraud. [5]
In the evening of 24 January, an aircraft was reported missing just north of the Swiss city of Rorschach, above Lake Constance a few miles west of the airport of St. Gallen Altenrhein. Initial attempts to locate the aircraft in the lake had been delayed due to deteriorating weather. The aircraft was lifted from the lake on 8 February 1994. Analysis at the time was inconclusive as the flaps were in neutral position which was unexpected for a planned landing at the nearby airport or an intentional watering. One of the aircraft doors was found open with only 3 of the 5 expected passengers on board. The pilot, one of the barmaids and a dog have not been recovered. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
The case was discussed in the 1995 edition of the commentary to the Constitution of Bavaria. The authors concluded that lack of clarity of the border line in the lake would have resulted in ambiguity about which country's criminal courts would have had jurisdiction. [11] [12]
During the time between the crash at the end of January and its recovery in early February, the biography of the business men on board caused for significant media attention and a scare that the aircraft might be transporting nuclear material. After recovery of the aircraft, no nuclear material was found. Had this been found to be true, the water supply in Switzerland, Germany and Austria and some important population centres along the river Rhine might have been at risk, hence the focus of attention. [13] [14] [15]
Mr Rimmele and Mr Eichler are said to have been under observation by authorities given their connection with Eastern European arms dealers and activities which included the sale and transport of low radioactive material in the past to Chinese buyers. [16]
Lake Constance refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (Obersee), Lower Lake Constance (Untersee), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lake Rhine (Seerhein). These waterbodies lie within the Lake Constance Basin in the Alpine Foreland through which the Rhine flows.
ARD is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction of a joint television network.
Germanwings GmbH was a German low-cost airline wholly owned by Lufthansa which operated under the Eurowings brand. It was based in Cologne with hubs at Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, Munich Airport and further bases at Hannover Airport and Dortmund Airport.
Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956 in Lugano, and won it. Switzerland won the contest again in 1988, with the 1989 contest being held in Lausanne.
Deutschlandfunk is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio.
3sat is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany, Austria (ORF) and Switzerland. The coordinating broadcaster is ZDF, at whose Mainz facility the broadcasting centre with studios for in-house productions is located.
Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first public television station in the world, named Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow.
Friedrichshafen Airport is a minor international airport 1.9 miles (3 km) north of Friedrichshafen, Germany, on the banks of Lake Constance. It is the third biggest airport in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and served 559,985 passengers in 2015. Friedrichshafen features flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations. Due to its proximity to the Austrian Alps it is also heavily used during the winter by skiing tourists.
St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport is a small airport in Altenrhein in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, near Lake Constance. It is the home base for People's airline.
The Army Reconnaissance Detachment 10 is a special forces unit of the Swiss Army responsible for conducting counter-terrorist activities in Switzerland and abroad. The full cost of maintaining the ARD-DDR-DEE in 2011 was approximately 16 million francs.
The Deutschland Cup is an in-season international ice hockey tournament hosted by the German Ice Hockey Federation which has been contested in most years since 1987.
People's, branded as People's Viennaline until May 2018, and legally Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH, is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport in Switzerland.
Maren Niemeyer is a German journalist, documentary filmmaker and cultural manager
Nadja Sieger is a Swiss comedian, singer, writer, actress and producer, better known as Nadeschkin of the comedian duo Ursus & Nadeschkin.
Chair Airlines AG, branded as chair and formerly named Germania Flug, is a Swiss airline headquartered in Glattbrugg in Greater Zurich and based at Zürich Airport.
Nils Dörgeloh is a German actor.
13th Street is a German pay television channel owned by the NBCUniversal subsidiary of Comcast through its NBCUniversal International Networks division. The channel is devoted to the genres thriller & crime and shows series, feature films as well as short films.
Friedrichshafen Hafen station is a station in Friedrichshafen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It was opened on 1 June 1850 and served as a port station for the train ferry over Lake Constance to Romanshorn until 1976 and is still used for passenger services by Deutsche Bahn and Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn (BOB). Today Friedrichshafen Hafen station is administered as a part of the Friedrichshafen Stadt station (Stadtbahnhof), to which it is connected by the Friedrichshafen Stadt–Friedrichshafen Hafen railway.
Adrian Alejandro Wittwer is a Swiss extreme athlete and ice swimmer.
Klaus Eichler is a former party and sporting official in East Germany.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)