British composer, his BBC proms star wife and their baby are killed in Swiss Alps plane crash
- Jonathan and Hannah Goldstein were flying with their child near Italian border
- The avid aviators were in a Piper plane when it crashed in the Alps on Sunday
- Jonathan was an award winning composer and Hannah a saxophonist
An award winning British composer, his BBC proms star wife and their baby have been killed in a plane crash in the Swiss Alps.
Jonathan and Hannah Goldstein, avid aviators, were flying with their child from Switzerland to Italy on Sunday when their plane crashed in the Simplon Pass.
Police in Valais canton said the Piper plane set off Sunday morning before it crashed a little under an hour later near the Italian border and burst into flames.
Mr Goldstein worked on various Hollywood movie soundtracks, including Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear and won an Ivor Novello Award in 2007 for his score to the BBC/HBO film Primo.
Jonathan and Hannah Goldstein, avid aviators, were flying with their child from Switzerland to Italy on Sunday when their plane crashed in the Simplon Pass
The scene of the crash, Swiss authorities reported that three dead bodies had been hauled from the flaming wreckage
Jonathan and Hannah Goldstein, both renowned musicians, were killed in a plane crash on Sunday in the Swiss Alps
Mrs Goldstein was a saxophonist who had performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
According to local media the couple had stopped in Lausanne for the night before taking off from the Blecherette airport.
The couple’s neighbour Ankita described being told the tragic news by Hannah’s father last night.
She told the Mirror: ‘I tried ringing Hannah and Jonathan but their phones weren’t connecting. Hannah had given me her parents numbers for emergency so I called her dad last night.
‘I said I was sorry to ring so late as it was about 9.15pm but I couldn’t find Rufus. He said there was a tragic accident and three of them died.
‘After that, I don’t remember what happened as I started crying. Hannah had said they were going to Italy and the weather might be bad. I started crying when I speaking to him.
‘I still cant believe it, I couldn’t sleep last night.’
The Goldsteins on holiday at Kilkenny Castle in Ireland
The bodies of Jonathan, Hannah and their small child were recovered from the wreckage.
There was no immediate word on the possible cause of the crash.
The Simplon Pass, at 6,578 feet above sea level, connects southern Switzerland with northern Italy.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘Our staff are assisting the relatives of a British family who died in a plane accident in western Switzerland and are also in contact with the local authorities.’