OM in Austria investigates accident Dutch female skier (28), operator suspected of wrongful death | Abroad

The Austrian Public Prosecution Service has launched an investigation into the death of a 28-year-old Dutch female skier on the Hintertux Glacier. The company that operates the track is suspected of wrongful death.

Austrian media report this. The 28-year-old Dutch woman skied down a steep and icy part of the slopes in the Zillertal on New Year’s Day. Together with her 27-year-old girlfriend and their two partners. Both women fell. The 28-year-old slid down a hundred meters, broke through a safety net and flew twenty meters through the air into a tree. She died on the spot. Her friend slipped over the edge and hit the rocks. A rescue helicopter took her to hospital where she is still being treated for her serious injuries.

The place where the accident happened was very dangerous. Half an hour after the fatal fall of the Dutch, a 55-year-old German fell on the same spot. She was also seriously injured and taken to hospital by rescue helicopter. According to the Austrian newspaper Hot seven people fell on the spot in half an hour. In the afternoon there was another hit on the Hintertux Glacier when a 56-year-old German tourist hit a sign and seriously injured one eye.

Dangerous

The manager and the association that manages and operates the track are, according to Austrian newspapers, suspected of wrongful death and serious bodily injury. The public prosecutor’s office in Innsbruck has appointed an expert to investigate the exact cause of the accident. It is also examined whether the safety regulations on the track complied with and whether the accident could have been prevented. According to the Austrian OM, the investigation will take some time.

The warm weather makes the Alps literally dangerous. Thirteen skiers have already died in the Austrian part of the Alps and the Clinic for Traumatology and Orthopedics in Innsbruck has already peated five skiers with a spinal cord injury this season. And that while the ski season has only just started.

Mushy snow

Many slopes are icy in the morning and due to the high temperatures – even at an altitude of 2000 meters it is sometimes 10 degrees Celsius – mushy in the afternoon. The greatest danger is that there is no snow next to the slopes. Anyone who leaves a prepared piste under normal conditions will fall into the soft snow. Now, on the other hand, the snow ends in a hard rock or meadow. Anyone who skis at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour or more will end up hard. “It is like a motorcycle accident, where skiers themselves form the crumple zone,” Ralph Schüller, spokesman for the ÖAMTC rescue helicopters, told the Austrian newspaper. Hot.

There is debate in Austria whether some lifts should close because the conditions are so extreme. Major financial interests play a role in this consideration. Often all employment in a ski village depends on winter sports. The discussion also points to the responsibility of skiers who go on winter sports without practice and in poor condition.

Nevertheless, the first ski areas in Austria are now closing. On the one hand due to lack of snow and insufficient artificial snow, but also because of safety.

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