Electrician killed by falling tree

A Lower Austrian worker died after he was hit by a falling tree yesterday (Weds).The 40-year-old slipped and fell over on the sloping area in a forest near Schwarzenbach. The man was then hit by the beech tree that he had just cut down.The electrician was working on the family-owned estate with his brother when the incident occurred. He died before the ambulance arrived due to various internal injuries.An elderly man from Mitterpullendorf in Burgenland is meanwhile fighting for his life after a similar incident. The 70-year-old man was helicoptered to a hospital after he was hit by a collapsing spruce.Stefan Solich of the Social Insurance Association of Farmers in Austria (SVB) said earlier this month: “Many people still underestimate the high dangers of forestry work. They stand around after axing a tree and are then hit.”Solich also said the number of accidents due to the improper usage of chainsaws was on the rise.