'No survivors' of Swiss crash

A small plane carrying tourists crashed this afternoon in southern Switzerland, police said. Several people were presumed dead.

The plane crashed near the Simplon Pass close to Switzerland’s border with Italy, police in the canton of Vallais said.

The plane’s point of departure, its destination and how many passengers were on board were not known.

“There are no survivors,” police spokesman Kalber Matten said from the site of the crash. “We still don’t know the reason for the crash.”

Matten said the plane was about the size of a Cessna, but he was unsure of the make of the plane.

He ruled out the possibility of the weather playing a role in the crash, saying the visibility “was good".

Switzerland was hit by a second day of torrential rain today that has caused at least five deaths in the Alpine country, shutting down roads, rail lines and the airport in the capital of Bern.