A view of the Sarco assisted suicide capsule. Agence France-Presse

Police in northern Switzerland said on Tuesday that several people have been detained and a criminal case opened in connection with the suspected death of a person in a new "suicide capsule.”

The "Sarco” suicide capsule, which has never been used before, is designed to allow a person inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes.

Prosecutors in Schaffhausen canton were informed by a law firm that an assisted suicide involving use of the Sarco capsule had taken place on Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen, police said in a statement.

It said "several people” were taken into custody and prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide.

Associated Press