Fire breaks out at mountaintop restaurant in Swiss Alps

ZURICH (Reuters) – A fire broke out early on Monday at a mountaintop restaurant in the Swiss Alps at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and helicopters were helping to battle the blaze, police said.

Heavy smoke was pouring from the upper floors of the Botta restaurant, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta and perched at the top of Glacier 3000 at Les Diablerets east of Lake Geneva, a Reuters photographer reported.

Police said efforts to put out the fire were continuing with the help of four helicopters, and it appeared so far that no one had been hurt. Prosecutors opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, police said.

(Reporting by Denis Balibouse, writing by Silke Koltrowitz, Editing by William Maclean)