Tourists drown in Austrian underground lake

Five people drowned after a boat carrying tourists through Europe’s largest underground lake overturned in Austria today, dumping the 27 passengers and crew into chilly waters.

The accident happened near the end of a 45-minute tour of the Hinterbruehl grotto, a popular cave featuring a vast, shallow subterranean lake in Moedling.

The victims were among a group of 41 tourists from Germany who had arrived by bus, authorities said.

Gottfried Bauer, a spokesman for the police rescue service in the province of Lower Austria, said rescuers tried but failed to resuscitate five people – four women and a man.

The boat overturned about 150 yards from the cave entrance, and at least three of the victims apparently became trapped beneath the boat, Bauer said. The survivors were being treated for shock and were offered psychological counselling at the scene.

A Belgian woman was among those who died, while the other fatal victims were German, said Wolfgang Nicham, a commander of the local police. They were 59 to 77 years old.

The accident happened in waters that were only four to five feet deep, and most of the tourists waded in the chilly water to safety through a narrow tunnel.

Rescue leader Werner Machacek told a news conference that two people – one a medic – had been admitted to a hospital.

The catamaran, which was built to carry 29 people, had 27 on board when it capsized, police said.

During the Second World War, Austria’s Nazi occupiers used the grotto to secretly build aircraft.

The site since has become a popular tourist destination visited by an estimated 200,000 people annually.