10. 09. 10. - 12:00

Driver dies in lake after parking collision

An elderly woman has died in a lake after her car was hit by another vehicle when she backed out of a parking space.

Hallein police chief Paul Pirchner announced today (Fri) the woman failed to stop her VW Golf from ending up in the Wiestal reservoir after it was rammed by a 52-year-old male driver when she reserved out of a parking spot yesterday.

Pirchner said: "Witnesses told us when we arrived that the woman tried to get out of the sinking car through a back door before the water’s force shut it."

Fire brigade boss Otto Miller and some colleagues jumped into the ice-cold pond without protective neoprene suits to rescue the body. But paramedics failed to revive her.

It took fire-fighters almost two hours to salvage her car with a crane.

This incident comes only days after a 44-year-old woman had a narrow escape after steering into a river.

The Zwentendorf resident lost control of her vehicle for unknown reasons at a roundabout in the Lower Austrian town of Tulln before ending up in the river of the same name.

Two quick-thinking witnesses jumped into the water immediately to rescue her.

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