Dream of a new life ends in hospital

A young couple from Vienna who were planning to start a new life in Germany are now fighting for their lives in hospital after a car accident while they were out celebrating with friends in Hamburg at the weekend.

The two were only named named by local police as Marie-Thérèse H. (25) and Florian R. (24) – without their surnames being used because of Austrian privacy laws.

The accident happened when the pair had gone onto the German city’s party and red light district, the so-called Reeperbahn, together with another friend who was providing them with a place to stay while they looked for a flat.

As they were on their way home they stopped at the side of the road to cross just as a taxi started to make an illegal turn. Another car which the taxi driver had failed to see swerved to avoid the taxi – and hit the two at the side of the road.

The accident left the two with critical injuries.

Marie-Thérèse H. Was taken to hospital with head wounds and a broken hip while Florian R. also had multiple fractures and severe head injuries. The car driver was only lightly injured. The taxi driver was the accident was also unhurt.