Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

An Austrian man responsible for preparing a frozen lake for an ice skating event has died after the car he was using broke through the surface and sank.

The 68-year-old, who was not named for legal reasons, was using the car to prepare the surface of the ice on the Aichwaldsee in the Austrian province of Carinthia when it broke.

The alarm was raised quickly because by chance the head of water rescue at the nearby Faak am See Lake witnessed what happened, but it was still 25 minutes before divers could recover the body from the vehicle which was 6 metres underwater on the lake bottom.

This was too late, and he was declared dead at the scene.

Experts had said that the ice was thick enough for sporting events, but it proved too heavy for the car. The alarm was raised at 5 PM and emergency doctors, the local water rescue service as well as firemen and police were at the scene.

The car had broken through the ice 40 metres from the bank with the divers needing to leap into the ice cold water to find the vehicle. Reanimation efforts then took place immediately but they were unsuccessful.

The car was recovered the same night, using special balloons to make it buoyant and cutting a corridor on the ice in order to pull it to shore.

Police spokesman Bruno Rassinger said that they had put a ban on people using the surface of the lake after the tragedy, especially in the areas where the freshly broken ice needed to refreeze.

The nearby Woerthersee ice skating club also said that the planned ice marathon event was being cancelled after the tragedy.

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