Man killed in church after stone altar falls on him

Gunther Link, a devout Catholic, prayed to be saved after he was trapped in a lift – but was killed when he went to church to give thanks and the stone altar fell on him.

Link, 45, died instantly as he was crushed under the ancient 860lb monument in the Weinhaus Church in Vienna, Austria.

Roman Hahslinger, a police spokesman, said: "He was a very religious man and had been scared when he was trapped in the lift and had prayed for release.

"A short while later he was pulled out of the elevator and he went straight to the church to thank God. He seems to have embraced a stone pillar on which the stone altar was perched and it fell on him, killing him instantly.

"We have found his fingerprints on the pillar. We are now investigating the case further," he added.

Link's body was found by parishioners attending Mass the next day after he had been reported missing by his cousin.