German driver survives 40-metre plunge

A German woman had a lucky escape when she survived a dramatic car accident yesterday (Weds).The 41-year-old sustained injuries to her vertebra after she came off a pass road and fell down a 40-metre ravine near Brandberg in Tyrol.The car, which landed on its roof, had to be salvaged with a rope after the driver was helicoptered to a hospital in Schwaz.The reason for the crash is still a matter of investigations.Changing temperatures have caused hazardous traffic conditions across Austria over the past days. Temperatures dropped below the freezing point at the beginning of the week after the whole country experienced an unusually warm weekend.Many roads were covered with black ice in the mornings when they were crammed with peopel trying to get to work.Freezing rain worsened the situation in the province of Styria further yesterday when dozens of people had to be hospitalised with broken bones after a series of car crashes.Already on Monday morning, nine cars were involved in a collision triggered by black ice on the A14 Rhine Valley motorway near Nenzing in Vorarlberg. Two people suffered minor injuries in the crash.