An armed gang of masked men stormed a packed casino in the Swiss city of Basel, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars before fleeing across the border to France.
"Although the perpetrators fired several shots, fortunately, no one was badly hurt," the Basel prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"However, several guests and a member of the security staff were slightly hurt after being hit and kicked by the offenders."
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The gang of around 10 French-speaking robbers pulled up in front of the casino in two silver-grey Audis with French number plates at around 4.00 am, local time.
One began breaking down the door with a sledge hammer as the others ran inside, brandishing machine guns and pistols, the authorities said.
They ordered the roughly 600 customers and workers in the casino to lie on the floor while some of the men rushed to empty the cash tills.
Several shots were fired as the robbers tried but failed to open a safe.
High-speed escape
"I was coming up from the basement to the ground floor when I heard a noise behind me," said a witness who asked not to be named.
"I saw a man with a gun who told me to lie down. Then I heard they were breaking the glass downstairs. They were all dressed in black and some had orange armbands. There was no alarm," the witness said.
Other witnesses said the gang communicated amongst themselves with walkie-talkies and ear pieces.
The gang escaped shortly afterwards, making off in the cars at high speed across the border with France along the Flughafenstrasse (airport road), where the Grand Casino is located.
"The perpetrators looted several hundred thousand francs," the Basel prosecutor's office said.
Swiss authorities said it was likely that they had shot at another vehicle while fleeing along Flughafenstrasse which leads across the border into France.
Cross-border investigation
"How the offenders managed to leave Flughafenstrasse, which is in French territory, is a matter of investigations, which are being undertaken together with French authorities," they said.
"The hunt for the perpetrators has so far been unsuccessful," they added.
French police appealed for witnesses after losing track of the getaway cars in the village of Saint-Louis, around three kilometres (two miles) from the border.
"These men were very professional, with heavy weapons, they were calm and kept to their timing. The heist lasted less than five minutes," French police said.
The general manager of the Grand Casino, Michael Favrod, said it was the first such hold up on the casino found close to the French-Swiss border and three minutes away from the Basel airport.
"The employees reacted very well. Such things (robberies) happen in casinos, so the employees have been trained to deal with such situation. It was probably due to the training that no one was seriously injured," he said.
Casino open for business
Clients and employees have been offered psychological help, said Favrod.
The casino remained open Sunday, added Favrod, noting that clients were still turning up "as usual."
"But we will have to see tomorrow, when the public learn about the incident from media reports," he added.
The raid came just two weeks after another heist at a casino in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Police said on March 19 that they had arrested a 20-year-old Frenchman living in Geneva who had robbed the casino armed with an assault rifle.
The man had fled in his car, which was found in Geneva city. Police were able to capture the man after identifying the vehicle.
