At least one person was killed and several seriously injured in a pile-up of around 100 vehicles on Austria's main east-west highway yesterday, local authorities said.

The crash occurred on the A-1 motorway linking Vienna and Salzburg, said a police spokesman in the province of Upper Austria.

"One person died and several others are still trapped in the wrecks of their cars," he said. "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."

The Red Cross in Upper Austria said that up to 28 people had been injured in the pile-up, up to 14 of them seriously.

The Austrian motoring association OeAMTC said some 100 cars and lorries were involved and one of its helicopters was at the scene. Other helicopters had to abort the rescue mission due to continuing heavy snowfall.

The association said it expected the highway to be blocked in both directions until the evening.