Family of four die after plunging from Swiss balcony

Geneva: Four members of a French family plunged to their deaths on Thursday from a seventh-floor balcony in the Swiss town of Montreux, leaving a teenager seriously injured, police said.

Five members of the same family, a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife and her twin sister, along with the couple’s eight-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son went off the balcony of a building in the heart of Montreux, police said.

All of them except the son died when they hit the ground, while the boy was taken to hospital in serious condition, the Vaud cantonal police said. All of those involved were French citizens, it said. Police said the incident occurred after two officers showed up at the building, across from Montreux’s famous Casino, to execute a warrant for the father in connection with the home-schooling of one of the children. The officers knocked on the door and heard a voice ask who they were. After they answered, the apartment went quiet.