Am Watzmann
After a risky rescue, vacationers freed from mountain distress complain to the mountain rescue service – because of a sleeping bag
A rescue helicopter prepares to land (symbol image): Operations on the wintry Watzmann are risky
© Marijan Murat/dpa/symbol image
Two vacationers from North Rhine-Westphalia had to be rescued from the wintry Watzmann with a risky action. Afterwards they criticized their rescuers: they had never been treated so badly as patients
Two holidaymakers from North Rhine-Westphalia who were rescued from mountain distress on the wintry Watzmann moaned at the mountain rescue service after their complex rescue. According to their own description, the rescuers had previously had to urge them on the mountain to follow the instructions so that the helicopter could use a small gap in the clouds when visibility was very poor. After landing, the 37-year-old and his 29-year-old companion complained “that they had never been treated so badly as patients, whereupon they immediately disappeared,” as the Ramsau mountain rescue service near Berchtesgaden announced on Tuesday.
Rescue on the Watzmann: 16 mountain rescuers on duty
16 mountain rescue workers and two helicopters were deployed for up to seven hours on Sunday to rescue the two tourists from Münsterland. The two got stuck in the fog between the central and southern peaks while crossing the Watzmann, which was still wintry, and were too exhausted at around five degrees to continue. With visibility of only a few meters, ground forces began to be used extensively, and a helicopter circled constantly over the mountain so that the two could be winched on board immediately if there was a gap in the clouds.
When this moment finally came, according to the mountain rescue service, there was a dispute because the mountaineers did not want to leave their unpacked sleeping bags behind, as ordered to save time. A rescue in the high mountains in wind and weather is neither a guaranteed nor an uncritical thing, commented mountain rescue spokesman Michael Renner. Those affected could not always assess the explosiveness of the situation and the high risk for themselves and for the mountain rescuers. “An abandoned sleeping bag has no relation to human life and health!”
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