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Seventy-vehicle pile-up in Austria claims single life

One person was killed and six were seriously injured when about 70 vehicles slammed into each other in heavy snow on Austria's main east-west highway on Tuesday, police said.

Some victims were trapped in their vehicles and rescue efforts were hampered by the snow. At least 37 people were injured, police said.

Rescue workers picked their way through bits of twisted metal, shattered windscreens and truck freight scattered over the highway while stretchers and ambulances lined up to take away the injured.

"I saw in my rear view mirror how the lorries slammed in from behind. I got out of my car and all I could hear was the screaming from the man whose wife had been killed," said Raphael Auer from Salzburg. "It was pure madness, like a battlefield."

Police said the person who died was a 37-year-old Spanish woman who lived in Switzerland. Authorities said she was killed when her car slid out of control and was run over by a truck.

More than 45 police officers and 150 Red Cross rescue workers attended the crash scene on the A1 autobahn between the towns of Seewalchen and St. Georgen. That section of the autobahn was closed in both directions for most of the day, and the westbound section remained shut down on Tuesday evening.
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