01. 07. 10. - 15:00

Swan sits down in middle of road

A hunter and a policeman were kept busy by a swan stranded in the middle of a busy road.

Traffic police in Tyrol said they sent one officer and a local animal expert to the B179 main road after drivers called to report the animal sitting a few hundred metres before the Füssen tunnel this morning (Thurs).

Officials said the team quickly managed to catch the confused Mute Swan. They released him at a nearby pond.

"He approached female swans in no time," the policeman said, adding that neither the swan nor motorists were injured.

Police in the province meanwhile also announced that a driver who crashed into a petrol station on the A13 Brenner motorway wanted to commit suicide.

Two people were killed when the car came to a standstill in its shop after ramming several petrol pumps on Tuesday.

Swede Eric E. – who lived in Saalbach in the province of Salzburg – died instantly in his detonated car, while a Japanese tourist passed away at a nearby clinic hours later. The man was fuelling his hired car when the 24-year-old slammed into the pump.