VIENNA: A major snowstorm hit Austria on Friday, leaving five people dead and causing power outages and transport chaos, officials said.
One man, aged 53, was crushed to death when a snow plow fell down steps in a “residential complex” in the northern city of Linz, police said.
Four skiers were killed in avalanches in the Tyrol region.
Three of them died in a giant avalanche near the St. Anton ski resort, officials said. A German died on a slope at Nauders that was buried by snow. His 16-year-old son was seriously injured, officials added.
Tyrol authorities appealed for skiers to stay away from off-piste slopes as the latest deaths took to 21 the number of dead in avalanches in Austria this winter season. They said the risk would remain high for several days.
Up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of snow fell on the Alpine nation since Thursday, prompting alerts for southeast Austria, notably in the region around the city of Graz.
Vienna airport temporarily closed in the morning, and afternoon services were “disrupted.”
One of the main orbital highways around Vienna was closed for several hours, and other sections of highway were blocked by snowdrifts, stranded lorries or poor visibility, said the national automobile association, OAMTC.
Electric companies reported power outages in several regions in the south and east, including Styria, where 30,000 homes lost electricity.
In neighboring Slovenia, 40,000 households were affected, according to local media, which reported major disruptions in the country’s northeast.
Austria snowstorm leaves five dead, road and power chaos
https://arab.news/cq8kk
Austria snowstorm leaves five dead, road and power chaos
- One man, aged 53, was crushed to death when a snow plow fell down steps in a “residential complex”
- Four skiers were killed in avalanches in the Tyrol region
Germany takes delivery of Israeli-made underwater drone
- "The army said the Blue Whale was the navy’s “largest and most advanced unmanned underwater vehicle to date“
- The device was tested in the Baltic Sea
BERLIN: The German navy on Wednesday said it had taken delivery of an Israeli-made Blue Whale underwater drone intended for reconnaissance and detecting “hybrid threats at sea.”
The autonomous underwater vehicle, developed by Israeli company IAI together with German submarine- and warship-maker TKMS, was received in the northern port of Eckernfoerde, the navy said in a statement.
The army on its website said the Blue Whale was the navy’s “largest and most advanced unmanned underwater vehicle to date.”
The device was tested in the Baltic Sea, a flashpoint for tensions between Russia and NATO since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the army said.
Military experts and European leaders say Russia has ramped up its “hybrid war” in the strategic region — now bordered entirely by NATO members, with the exception of Russia — through airspace incursions and suspected sabotage of undersea cables.
TKMS said the Blue Whale was capable of “conducting reconnaissance operations, detecting targets above and below the sea surface, collecting acoustic information, and locating sea mines on the seabed.”
Israel and Germany have upped their defense cooperation in recent months and in January signed a security pact to expand joint work on counterterrorism and cyber defense.
In December, Germany approved a $3.1 billion expansion of a contract for the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system, which is Israeli-made and developed with US support.
