German planes collide at Swiss airshow

Two single-engine German planes have crashed following a formation flight at an airshow in Switzerland. Swiss authorities confirmed at least one fatality.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Aug 2015

The two small aircraft collided midair Sunday morning with at least one plane crashing at the Dittingen airshow in northern Switzerland, Basel-Landschaft police said in a statement.

According to the "Basellandschaftlichen Zeitung" newspaper, the collision happened at around 11:30 a.m. (0930 UTC) as a three planes were executing a curve and one plane touched the tail of another one.

One of the planes crashed into a barn in the nearby town of Dittingen.

Published reports said at least one pilot parachuted to safety. The third plane of the formation was not involved in the crash and landed safely, the reports said.

The formation team has been identified as the German Grasshoppers which fly green single-engine Ikarus C42 airplanes.

In England, Saturday's death toll rises

Meanwhile, in Britain police said Sunday that the death toll has increased to 11 people with more than a dozen injured in Saturday's airshow disaster in England. A British Hawker Hunter fighter jet, which had been participating in the Shoreham Airshow near Brighton, England, hit several vehicles on a nearby road as it crashed.

jar/se (dpa, AP, AFP)