British rally entrants killed as car plunges off mountain
TWO British men were killed yesterday after they lost control of their car and plunged more than 1,300 feet from Austria’s highest mountain pass road.
The dead men have not been named. Police identified the driver only as a 25year-old from south-east England and his passenger as aged 22.
Local press reports claimed the driver was from Kent. The pair were taking part in the Great European Rally, a legal, non-competitive event in which drivers traverse some of Europe’s most dramatic roads on a route from Brussels to Budapest.
The crash took place shortly after 7.30am local time ( 6.30am BST) on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, which rises 8,215 feet above sea level at its highest point. The road is a favourite with motoring enthusiasts for its views and demanding hairpin curves.
The driver lost control of his Seat car around 8,000 feet up, near the village of Fusch, some 60 miles east of Innsbruck.
Both men were thrown from the car as it plunged through a crash barrier. Emergency services rushed to the crash site by helicopter but could only pronounce the men dead at the scene.
Initial confusion that they may have been taking part in an illegal road race came from a witness account.
A bystander believed he saw a second car, a Porsche with British licence plates, flee the scene. But the driver of the Porsche, a 42-year-old Briton, later came forward and explained that he was some way behind and had not been aware of the accident.
“There was no illegal road race. That was an initial suspicion that proved false,” said Eva Wenzl, a police spokesman.
The road is notorious for accidents. The section where the men lost control has a 100kph (62mph) speed limit.