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Horse-Drawn Fiaker Runs Wild in Vienna, Driver and Two Tourists Hurt

Police are investigating whether urban traffic noise or a lorry with a running engine triggered the horses to bolt.

Overview

  • A two-horse Fiaker team spooked at an intersection in Vienna’s city centre on Friday and bolted, carrying the carriage into a scaffold and along the street before stopping.
  • The 53-year-old driver fell from the box and was overrun by the carriage, suffering bruises that required hospital treatment.
  • All four passengers were German tourists from Reichenbach and Heinsdorfergrund and two of them suffered abrasions that were treated on the scene while the other two were unharmed.
  • The run ended when one horse struck a wall and fell; both horses were injured and received on-site veterinary care while emergency crews removed the carriage.
  • Wiener Polizei have opened an investigation and cited a lorry with a running engine near the crossing as a possible trigger, a development that could prompt reviews of Fiaker safety and traffic rules in busy urban areas.