August 14, 2014
GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss authorities were on Wednesday forced to chase a 50-tonne floating construction platform down the River Rhine after it broke free of its moorings due to the rain-swollen current.
Swiss news agency ATS said that the platform broke free near the regional capital of Chur in the east of the country, which has been battered by days of exceptionally heavy rain.
The platform, carrying construction machinery including a digger, could not be stopped because of the unusual force of the Rhine.
ATS said that it was making its way north and was expected to reach Lake Constance, which Switzerland shares with Germany and Austria.
