AUSTRIA: Five people drowned yesterday when a boat carrying mainly elderly German and Belgian tourists capsized in icy waters in Europe's largest underground lake, trapping some people underneath the vessel.
Four Germans and a Belgian were confirmed killed in the accident in Seegrotte, near Vienna, fire officials said.
Police said they were investigating the incident, and one line of inquiry will be whether the catamaran, carrying 29 people, including the captain, was overloaded.
About 100 firefighters were involved in the rescue operation, which took place in dark, cramped conditions.
Mr Gottfried Bauer, a spokesman for the fire department, said the dead passengers were trapped underneath the boat for around 45 minutes and drowned in the chilly waters.
"They probably didn't have much chance," Mr Bauer said. Another fire official said three women and one male victim were German while the fifth victim was a Belgian woman.
None of the passengers had been wearing life jackets, the official said, adding that it had never been common practice for passengers on such tours to wear life preservers.
Around a quarter of a million people visit Seegrotte at Hinterbrühl in northeast Austria every year, according to the Seegrotte Web site.
During World War Two, Seegrotte was the site of an underground factory that produced fighter jets for the Germans.