Tourists dead in Alps accident
2005-09-05 16:11
Vienna - At least nine people died and several others were injured on Monday when a helicopter accidentally dropped a massive concrete block on a cable-car in the Austrian Alps, police said.
The victims were believed to be tourists, some of whom were knocked out of the cable-car when it was struck by the 750kg the APA news agency reported, citing the company that operates the cable-car.
The company said the block fell from a height of 300m onto the cable-car.
The block was being transported to be used in the construction of a telecommunications line.
A large-scale rescue operation was under way at the scene near the vilage of Soelden, which lies near the city of Innsbruck, local rescue officials said.