An employee of the Tyrolean rescue services is looking for the buried German after the rockfall of the Stripsenjoch in the Tyrolean Kaiser Mountains Photo: Zoom.Tirol/dpa
By Stephan Kurthy
A climber from Germany was buried in a rock fall in the Tyrolean Kaiser Mountains!
Chunks five cubic meters in size fell on the Stripsenjoch on Thursday, said a spokesman for the operations control center. According to the Tyrolean police, a group of five from Germany was busy with abseiling exercises around 12:21 p.m. in the municipality of Kirchdorf am Wilden Kaiser as part of a mountain guide training course.
They abseiled down a rock face about 40 meters high.
After a 30-year-old trainee was abseiled down as the second in the group of five and was on his way back to the starting point, the other four members, who were all at the starting point, heard a loud, dull noise. The attempted contact with the abseiled was unsuccessful, which is why two mountain guides immediately went on the footpath to the foot of the wall.
a rock avalanche! The 30-year-old was apparently buried under it. The surface search, which began immediately, was unsuccessful. Due to the continuing danger of falling rocks, the rescue operation of the emergency services was also canceled.
Because of the massive stone masses, heavy equipment is now needed, before it can go no further.
The accident site was inspected by the state geologist. His assessment of the continuation of the safe salvage is still pending.
Teams from mountain rescue, fire brigade and alpine police, emergency doctor helicopters and police helicopters were deployed.
The four other German alpinists with whom the buried person was traveling remained unharmed.
