Driver fled the scene

Carinthian woman dies in accident drama in Switzerland

After the driver crashed into the trees, she fled the scene of the accident.(Bild: Kapo St. Gallen)

A terrible traffic accident occurred on Tuesday evening in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, not far from the border with Vorarlberg. A station wagon driven by a woman from Styria left the road and crashed into a group of trees. An 84-year-old woman from Carinthia died at the scene, the 56-year-old driver fled the scene of the accident.

The 56-year-old Styrian woman was driving her estate car on the Voralp-Bergstrasse from Gamperfin towards Voralp in the municipality of Grabserberg at around 8.50 pm. In the car with her were her 63-year-old passenger as well as a 54-year-old and an 84-year-old female passenger.

Crashed head-on into a tree
For reasons as yet unexplained, she drove her car, which is registered in Styria, off the edge of the road on the left in a right-hand bend and crashed head-on into a tree. While the 63-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the accident and the 54-year-old woman - both also Austrian citizens - in the back seat suffered injuries of indeterminate severity, the 84-year-old Carinthian woman died at the scene of the accident. The two injured persons were taken by helicopter to nearby hospitals for further treatment.

The car crashed into a group of trees.(Bild: Kapo St. Gallen)

For an 84-year-old Carinthian woman, all help came too late.(Bild: Kapo St. Gallen)

Fleeing on foot
The driver, who was also injured in the accident to an indeterminate degree, fled the scene of the accident on foot. Thanks to an immediately launched manhunt, in which both drones and search dogs were used, the 56-year-old Styrian woman was found injured nearby around two hours later and arrested. She also had to be taken to hospital.

The woman was classified by the police as unfit to drive, a blood and urine sample was ordered and her driving license for Switzerland was revoked. She will be reported to the public prosecutor's office of the Canton of St. Gallen. As the cantonal police of St. Gallen reported in response to an inquiry by "Krone", she has since been released from custody.