Eight die in Austrian motorway crashes

Eight people were killed and 50 injured, many of them seriously, in two mass pileups on a fog-shrouded stretch of Austria’s Salzburg to Vienna motorway today.

Two separate collisions occurred on lanes leading in both directions when dense fog momentarily reduced visibility to almost zero near Seewalchen, 137 miles west of Vienna.

A total of about 70 vehicles were involved in what witnesses said was complete chaos on the West Autobahn.

One car caught fire, setting a truck and a van ablaze. Two people died in the fire.

Thirty-four ambulances and two medical helicopters ferried the injured to hospitals.