Around 50 cows burn to death in twin fires across Switzerland

Around 50 cows have been killed after two fires broke out at separate farms in Switzerland.

Emergency services were called to the first blaze at a farm in Payerne, west of Bern, in the early hours of Saturday morning (26 July).

Around a dozen cows were killed including several calves, but eleven managed to survive.

The owners managed to escape the farm unscathed too as they called the fire service.

No sooner had the first blaze been contained, police spotted another fire at an isolated farm building between Domdidier and Dompierre, less than two miles away from Payerne.

Several cows were saved from the fire, but many had to be put down after suffering from serious burns.

The farm had 108 cows, of which 36 were killed.

Amid the chaos, many of the cows had run off into the night, forcing farmworkers to recapture them.

Police confirmed that no link between the two fires had been found, but the causes remain unknown.

It comes just two weeks after a similar farm fire just a few miles away at the National Equestrian Centre in Avenches, more than 20 horses were killed in the blaze.

A man was arrested for the fire on that occasion.