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NDTV
11 hours ago
- NDTV
24-year-Old Wingsuit Flyer Dies While Attempting 8,000-Foot Jump In The Swiss Alps
A 24-year-old Scottish wingsuit flyer died on Saturday during a jump from 8,000 feet, the BBC reported. Liam Byrne, who starred in a documentary about his journey to become a champion skydiver, plunged to his death on the Gitschen mountain in the Swiss Alps. The 24-year-old, from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, had completed more than 4,000 jumps in his 10 years as a wingsuit flyer and was featured in a BBC documentary called 'The Boy Who Can Fly'. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and the Cantonal Police of Uri have said the fatal wingsuit incident is being investigated, per the BBC. The statement added that Mr Byrne had jumped with two others on Saturday when he died. Mr Byrne's parents confirmed their son's demise. In a statement to the outlet, the family said, "We would like to remember Liam not just for the way he left this world, but for how he lived in it. Liam was fearless, not necessarily because he wasn't afraid but because he refused to let fear hold him back. He chased life in a way that most of us only dream of and he soared." "Skydiving and base jumping was more than just a thrill for Liam - it was freedom. It was where he felt most alive. Liam was more than just an adventurer. He was a son, brother, grandson, cousin and friend. He was a source of laughter and strength. He inspired all of us and made life better with his bold spirit and kind heart," the statement added. The BBC described Mr Byrne as a very experienced wingsuit flyer. He took to extreme sports from a young age. At 12, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. By the age of 14, he was a licensed paraglider, and at 16, he began skydiving, and by 18, he started using a wingsuit. In the documentary, he said that no matter how safe he tried to make the sport, he did think about how much it worried his family. He told the documentary makers that preparation was key to being safe. "I've spent the last decade training to increase the skills and decrease any risk. For me I'm about as far from a reckless adrenaline junkie as you can possibly get. Preparation is always been at the heart of all my challenges. The more I prepare, the more control I have," he said. An investigation into Mr Byrne's death is ongoing. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed it was supporting the family of a British man who died in Switzerland.
Associated Press
29-05-2025
- Climate
- Associated Press
Man remains missing after a Swiss glacier collapsed and destroyed 90% of an Alpine village
GENEVA (AP) — A 64-year-old man remained missing Thursday after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90% of the village was destroyed. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man, whose name wasn't made public, and it involved a drone with a thermal camera. The regional government said in a statement that a large chunk of the Birch Glacier above the village had broken off, causing the landslide, which also buried the nearby Lonza River bed, raising the possibility of dammed water flows. Video on social media and Swiss television showed that the mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, partially submerged homes and other buildings under a mass of brownish sludge. In recent days, authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village amid fears that the 1.5 million-cubic meter (52 million-cubic foot) glacier was at risk of collapse. Swiss glaciologists have repeatedly expressed concerns about a thaw in recent years — attributed in large part to global warming — that has accelerated the retreat of glaciers in Switzerland. The landlocked Alpine country has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, and saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023. That was the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022.
