Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

Two girls aged 8 and 11 have survived after the light aircraft they were travelling in with their pilot father crashed into the side of a snow-covered Austrian mountain.

The crash happened close to the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, some 100 kilometres south of Salzburg which is popular with motoring enthusiasts and is the highest surfaced mountain road in the country.

The road is currently closed because of the extreme snow which also made it very difficult to reach the accident site in a heavily wooded area 1,500 metres (4,921 feet) above sea level.

The Austrian Red Cross confirmed that the older child was in a serious condition while the eight-year-old had only suffered light injuries in the crash, and their father was killed in the crash.

A fire brigade spokesman told local media: “At the accident site it was snowing, lower down the valley it was raining, and everywhere there was heavy cloud that obstructed visibility.”

It is believed rescue vehicles had to move both children to a different location where they could be collected by rescue helicopter and taken to nearby hospitals.

The family are reportedly all from the Cologne area. The mother of the girls was not travelling with them and was reportedly at home when the accident happened.

The father, aged 66, who was not named, had set off over the weekend from an airport in Bonn heading towards the popular Austrian winter tourism resort Zell am See. Locals heard the crash when the plane hit the side of the mountain and raised the alarm.

The reasons for the crash of the single engine plane are being investigated, but police confirmed that the pilot had been coming in to land, but had then called off the landing and was making a re-approach when he crashed a few kilometres away from the airfield.

Police were at the scene of the crash together with mountain rescue, fire service and ambulance crews with some of the rescuers indicated that the younger girl might be aged nine, and also suggesting alternative age for the father of 67 as opposed to 66.

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