Swiss cause ripple over French lake water

THE Swiss army had to calm diplomatic ripples after its pilots airlifted French lake water to quell the thirst of Swiss cows, the daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung reported.

TO help mountain farmers cope with the recent heat and drought, the helicopter pilots were originally tasked to transport water from lakes in Switzerland's western Vaude canton last week.
However, they decided the Lac des Rousses just across the nearby French border would offer shorter flight runs and took more than 50,000 litres of water from the mountain lake. Swimmers on the lake were the first to notice the Swiss invasion and French police quickly called the Swiss army to complain. In the commentary section of the French newspaper Le Progres, some readers wondered how foreign military aircraft could have entered the national airspace unnoticed. Others said they were not surprised, given that the Swiss have a habit of stealing mushrooms from local forests. Switzerland's deputy army chief Dominique Andrey capitulated in the dispute by formally apologising to the head of France's Jura region. Switzerland's military attache in Paris had asked for and received an overflight permit from the French authorities, but had failed to secure a separate permit for the water, the army said.