France: Mulhouse airport traffic controller killed Published duration 27 April 2011

image caption Air traffic at the airport was not affected by the killing, officials said

An air traffic controller has been found stabbed to death at the EuroAirport outside Mulhouse, France, near the Swiss and German borders.

Police say the 34-year-old was found in a pool of blood in an office in the control tower that is accessible only with an identity badge.

Prosecutors have opened a murder investigation, French reports say.

The victim, a married father of one who has not been named, was a senior official at the airport.

A spokesman for the civil aviation authority, the DGAC, said the victim, who had worked at the airport since leaving education in 1998, was in charge of the control tower.

He was found shortly after 0800 (0600 GMT) by an employee of the airport.

Police sources said the man had been stabbed in the throat, lung and chest on the 10th floor of the tower, AFP news agency reports.

The man lived in Riedesheim, about 20km (13 miles) from the airport.

No suspects have been arrested and the murder weapon was not found at the scene.