Mass pile-up on Austrian motorway

About 70 vehicles ploughed into each other in thick fog early on Monday morning on the road between Schoerfling and Seewalchen in western Austria.

The poor visibility - at times just two metres (6.5 feet) - hampered the rescue effort and emergency workers could only assess the extent of the damage later in the afternoon.

Helicopters were also prevented from landing nearby.

'Total chaos'

An unexpected bank of fog took drivers by surprise and set off the crashes on both carriageways of the A1.

Two people are reported to have died in a fire caused by a crash between a car, a lorry and a van.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as "total chaos" and looking like a scrapyard.

Survivors said many people managed to escape the worst of the crash because it took place in stages - with time between the impact of each vehicle.

That allowed drivers to jump out of their cars and take refuge behind concrete barriers.

Eyewitness Karl Ploberger told Austrian radio, ORF, that these barriers were "real life savers".

"I spoke to one driver who came out of it completely untouched," he said.

"Moments later, his car was pushed under a lorry and was completely obliterated."