A collision on New Year’s Day between two experienced skiers on traveling quickly on crossing ski slopes led to the death of one from head injuries and the likely prosecution of the other, a senior German politician, on manslaughter charges.
The accident happened on New years day when a Slovak mother of four, Beata Christandl, skiing on a blue piste collided with senior German politician, Dieter Althaus, who was wearing a helmet and was descending a red run which crossed it.
Mrs Christandl, who was not wearing a helmet, died on the way to hospital, Mr Althaus was still serious injured and was taken in to an artificially induced coma by doctors, who say the helmet probably saved his life. Doctors say Mt Althaus has no memory of the incident.
Both skiers were reported to have been travelling quickly at around 50kph but conditions and visibility were good so it is unclear how the crash occurred.
The accident has sparked a national media debate in Germany and Austria on whether helmet wearing should be made compulsory as well as leading to a boom in sales of helmets in the countries.