Austria launches criminal probe into Dutch skier's death on icy slope

The Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office has launched a criminal investigation into the death of a 28-year-old Dutch woman who was killed in a skiing accident on Sunday, Austrian media outlets reported on Wednesday. The woman was skiing with three friends on a slope at the Hintertux glacier southeast of Innsbruck

Local police said two Dutch couples were skiing a red run on New Year's Day at 10:15 a.m. The two men in the group successfully completed the run first and were followed by the two women in the group who fell independently of each other.

The 28-year-old woman crashed and slid in an uncontrolled manner for 100 meters before slamming through a safety net. She fell about 20 meters before striking a tree at full speed. She died at the scene, police said.

Her 27-year-old friend fell at roughly the same time, and slid over the edge of the slope. She then fell into rocky terrain and suffered serious injuries. A German woman then crashed on the same run 30 minutes later, and a German man suffered a serious eye injury on a different run on the same glacier a few hours later.

Prosecutors in Austria are trying to determine if there is enough evidence that the death and the injuries are due to negligence. The manager of the ski area where the accidents happened is among those under investigation, Austrian media said.