Trial set for Swiss canyon deaths

INTERLAKEN, Switzerland -- Eight people will go on trial for manslaughter in connection with the 1999 Swiss whitewater canyon disaster which claimed 21 lives.

A Swiss regional court said on Thursday that the trial will begin on December 3 in Interlaken -- a town near the Saxet river gorge where 18 tourists and three guides were swept to their death.

Three members of the Swiss company Adventure World, which provided the guides who led the trip, are among those charged. Two leaders of the base camp and three guides also face trial.

They are accused of negligence for allowing the trip to go ahead even though a thunder storm was brewing in the area.

Fourteen Australians, two Britons, two South Africans, and one New Zealander, as well as two Swiss died in the river. One of the bodies was never found.

The group was on a canyoning trip -- jumping, abseiling and body-surfing in wetsuits down the creek's rapids and waterfalls -- when they were caught by a flash flood.

They were trapped by a wall of water as they made their way down the gorge.

Adventure World closed after an unrelated accident last May in which a 22-year-old American died during a bungee jumping trip.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Swiss canyon deaths: Eight charged
November 1, 2000

Interlaken

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