46 Italians injured in Austria crash (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, June 21 - The Italian foreign ministry said Tuesday 46 Italians were injured in a motorway crash about 70 kilometers away from Vienna, four of them seriously. A total of 24 ambulances and a helicopter intervened on the scene to carry the wounded to hospital, with the two most gravely injured passengers taken to Wiener Neustadt and UKH Meidling hospitals in Vienna.
    "The balance is of four people seriously injured and 42 lightly injured," said Red Cross East spokesperson Sonja Kellner.
    The victims range from 40 to 50 years of age, she added. The crash occurred shortly after midday on the A2 motorway between between Grimmenstein and Seebenstein.
    Eyewitnesses said the coach on which they were traveling from northern Italy to Poland rear-ended a stationary truck carrying paper towels that had broken down. The crash caused the motorway to be shut down for five hours.