Crash in Zell am See

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Cab driver Zouhir Hussein was the first to notice the crashed plane. He did not hesitate and rushed to the pilot's aid.(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

Fatal crash in Zell am See: the cause of the accident is still completely unclear one day after the tragedy. The pilot from Germany did not survive - despite courageous first aiders. At the center: a cab driver from Syria ...

"I saw the smoking plane and stopped immediately." Cab driver Zouhir Hussein didn't hesitate - and acted with presence of mind! The Syrian-born driver witnessed the plane crash in Zell am See at close quarters on Tuesday. Together with two local residents, he ran to the wreckage as quickly as possible and wanted to provide first aid. "I wasn't afraid, I just did it," he says.

Shortly afterwards, it was a sad certainty: the pilot from Germany - he was alone in the small plane - did not survive the violent impact. Although the emergency services arrived at the scene two minutes after Zouhir Hussein, there was nothing more they could do for the German. "All help came too late," said the police.

The police cordoned off a large area around the scene of the accident.(Bild: Roland Hölzl)

More than 50 men from the fire department, the Red Cross and the police were deployed. The "Alpin Heli 6" emergency helicopter also made its way to Zell airfield. Police officers cordoned off the scene of the accident for several hours.

The exact course of the accident is still unclear. The Air Accident Commission of the Ministry of the Interior is now investigating. One thing is clear: the plane was not coming from Austria and was about to make a stopover at Zell Airport. It happened during the landing approach and the plane crashed into a meadow just 200 meters from the runway. This is next to the old Kaprun road and a footpath. The plane did not catch fire, there was only a small amount of smoke.

Third aviation accident within a few months
Accidents involving small aircraft occur time and again in Salzburg. As recently as August 2024, a light aircraft crashed in Mauterndorf right next to a residential building; the pilot survived. In November 2023, a Cirrus carrying four people crashed in bad weather in Lungau. All occupants died on the spot. According to an expert report, the aircraft was overloaded.