One person was killed and about 30 injured when a snowstorm provoked a huge pile-up involving up to 100 vehicles on a motorway in Austria.

The accident, which happened in the middle of this morning on the Seelwachen-St Georgen stretch of the Vienna-Salzburg A1 autobahn, left numerous motorists trapped inside their cars, the Austrian motoring club said. Up to 14 people were seriously injured in the pile-up, according to the Red Cross in the region.

Local hospitals were put on stand-by to deal with the casualties.

Around 40 Red Cross rescue vehicles have been sent to the scene, where they are working alongside the emergency services.

Police said low visibility due to the snowstorm was to blame for the crash, and the Austrian motoring association OeAMTC said that up to 100 cars and lorries were involved.

One of the association's helicopters was at the scene this afternoon, but other helicopters had to abort their attempts to join the rescue mission because of continuing heavy snowfall. The association said it expected the highway to be blocked in both directions until the evening.

Several fatal crashes have occurred along the Seelwachen-St Georgen section of the highway, mainly on account of fog. Ten people have died on that section of motorway since 2002.

A spokesman for police in the province of Upper Austria said: “One person died and several others are still trapped in the wrecks of their cars. It’s too early to say what exactly caused the pile-up. But we had heavy snowfall this morning and the highway was covered in snow.”

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• 'Was it real?' The US bailout nightmare
• Iranian opposition plays the long game