A 50-year-old British tourist has been arrested after biting off the tip of another man’s nose in a fight in St Anton on Sunday.
The violent brawl between members of two different groups of holiday-making Brits had erupted in a pub before breaking out into the street, police said.
In a statement on Tuesday, Federal police from the Alpine state of Tyrol said an injured person left the “altercation” with two friends at around 8.10 pm.
The statement continued: “Some members of the other group also left the pub a short time later and walked eastwards along the local road.
St Anton, a winter party town, is home to bars like the Mooserwirt - but the attack happened off the slopes in the town centre
Wikimedia Commons
“The two friends of the already injured man followed the men and then attacked them unexpectedly with massive punches and kicks.
“A scuffle broke out between the two men and one of them, a 29-year-old British man, had the tip of his nose bitten off by one of the unknown men.
“After the people were separated, the attackers fled in the direction of the pedestrian zone in St Anton am Arlberg.
“After first aid, the 29-year-old was taken to hospital in Zams and then to hospital in Innsbruck.”
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Police had launched an immediate search for the suspects, which had initially been unsuccessful, but said today they had located the “main offender”.
The service said: “Based on extensive investigations and information from the public, three British holidaymakers – aged 50, 50 and 67 – were identified as the perpetrators.
“The 50-year-old main offender was arrested by order of the public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck and taken to Innsbruck prison.”
The prison where the 50-year-old is being held found itself at the centre of a controversy last year after a Council of Europe anti-torture committee reported allegations of racist abuse of prisoners by staff.
St Anton and other nearby resorts in Austria are popular among Brits during the winter season – and the ski hotspots are no strangers to British tourist trouble.
In 2022, a 55-year-old Briton was beaten unconscious with a ski pole by a snowboarder after an altercation on the slopes.
But snowsports centres across Europe may not have to deal with holidaymakers for long, with Italy’s Mount Terminillo resort closing months early after high temperatures resulted in a complete lack of snowfall.
Locals have blamed climate change for resort closures across the continent, with “truly unprecedented” temperatures in the mid-teens forcing winter sports sites to shut up shop.