In the Kaiser Mountains
Fatal mountain accident in Tyrol: German hiker falls 25 meters down
The salvage of the dead was initially canceled during the night. The following day the body was transported by helicopter from the Tyrolean mountains.
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The hiker from Germany was hiking in the Kaiser Mountains in Tyrol when he fell and was buried by boulders. Any help came too late for the 49-year-old.
Reports of fatal mountain accidents have increased this summer. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the number of rescue operations has skyrocketed. Likewise the number of dead. In Alpstein in eastern Switzerland, five people died while hiking within five weeks. Even in the Austrian Tyrol, the death reports do not stop. A 58-year-old had an accident in June and an elderly woman in mid-July.
German hiker died in an accident in Tyrol
The latest accident happened on Thursday. A 49-year-old man from Germany died on a mountain tour on the Zettenkaiser in the Kaiser Mountains. This was announced by the Austrian news agency APA on Friday, citing the police. The hiker was on the descent when a boulder he was holding on to allegedly broke off. The man from Baden-Württemberg then fell about 25 meters down a steep gully. He was buried by other boulders that had also broken off. Any help came too late for the German.
According to APA, the man could only be recovered by the crew of a police helicopter on Friday morning. He was discovered late Thursday evening after his partner reported him missing. As the “Tyrolean newspaper“reported, the two had spoken to each other shortly before the accident. “We knew which summit he was on and then climbed up to look for him,” says Gerald Radlherr, local manager of the Kufstein mountain rescue service, the newspaper. The rescue about however, the rocky terrain proved to be very difficult and was initially broken off after midnight.
At the beginning of June, a similar accident occurred in the Tyrolean Unterland. A 30-year-old fell while climbing and was also buried by rubble. In both cases, Radlherr speaks of a “chain of unfortunate circumstances”. The triggers for such accidents are usually banal slips or a short stumble. You can read in this article what you should definitely pay attention to on a trip to the mountains and how you can best prepare for the hike:
Sources: “Allgäu newspaper“, Austrian radio“Tyrolean newspaper“