Swiss police have arrested several people after a controversial futuristic-looking capsule designed to allow its occupant to commit suicide was used for the first time, authorities said on Tuesday.

Several arrests were allegedly made on Monday after a 64-year-old American woman used a “suicide pod” to kill herself in northern Switzerland. The first-ever use of the Sarco pod took place “under a canopy of trees” near a woodland cabin in Merishausen,

The death of an American woman in an assisted suicide capsule has led to criminal proceedings being launched against several people in Switzerland.