22. 05. 09. - 15:00

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22. 05. 09. - 15:00

Climber falls 40 metres to his death in Lower Austria

A Graz man slipped and fell 40 metres to his death in Lower Austria yesterday (Thurs) afternoon.

The man, 55, was climbing on the Schneeberg in Neunkirchen district when the accident occurred. Another climber who had witnessed the fall sounded the alarm by cell-phone. Rescuers, however, were unable to do anything for the victim.

The man had been climbing alone without equipment on the Stadelwand rock face with a 2+ degree of difficulty. He fell at an altitude of around 1,200 metres after having made a traverse of only 80 metres.

Two climbers, who had witnessed the accident, were too shocked to proceed and had to be rescued by helicopter.

In another mountain mishap that had a happier ending, a woman, 22, from St. Agatha bei Bad Goisern in Upper Austria called rescuers by cell-phone after falling into a chute-like sink-hole in the snow in Styria’s Liezen district.

It took a rescue helicopter crew an hour to locate the sink-hole despite constant cell-phone contact with the woman. A male rescuer then had to use the last ounce of his strength to pull her out of the sink-hole by hand.

The woman, who was suffering from severe hypothermia, was flown to Diakonie hospital in Schladming. Doctors found to their amazement that she had no suffered no serious injuries.

Austrian Times

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