Accident in the Austrian Alps Mountaineer pulls several others into the depths - and continues the tour
An alpinist falls in the Stubai Alps (Austria) and takes others with him. Two people are seriously injured. The person responsible, however, continues his tour. The public prosecutor's office is now investigating him.
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- An alpinist falls on the ascent to the 3507-metre-high Zuckerhütl in the Austrian Alps. He takes five people with him.
- One man is seriously injured.
- Despite this, the man suspected of causing the accident continues his mountain tour. Other mountaineers look after the injured climbers.
- The person responsible for the accident later surrenders to the police. The public prosecutor's office is now investigating.
Jostling and dicey situations between different rope teams are better known from the Himalayas, occasionally from the Matterhorn.
But there has also been an incident in the Austrian Alps this season that represents the opposite of camaraderie among alpinists.
It is a glorious mountain day last April, 40 to 50 alpinists are making their way up the 3507-metre-high Zuckerhütl in the Stubai Alps. At around eleven o'clock, one of them slips and pulls four others down. This is reported in the "Tiroler Tageszeitung" newspaper.
One of them was seriously injured and was later taken to hospital with a traumatic brain injury and a shoulder injury. Another person had to abandon the tour.
Who really caused the accident?
The two others who were swept away continue on their way with minor injuries. And see the person who caused the accident also climbing towards the summit.
Others take care of the injured climbers.
The police then search for the stranger who did not help the victims of his mishap. Finally, the mountaineer himself contacts the investigators.
He says that he fell because he himself had been bumped into. He was therefore not to blame for the accident. One of his fellow climbers disagrees, saying that there was no one between him and the man who fell first.
The man who is presumed to have caused the accident also defends himself by saying that other climbers had already taken care of the injured.
The person who caused the accident is not to blame
The Neustift police have passed the investigation on to the public prosecutor's office. The case is complicated, various eyewitnesses and people involved have given different versions of what happened. It was a case of testimony against testimony.
Michael Larcher, court expert for alpine accidents at the Austrian Alpine Association, clarifies the legal situation in the "Tiroler Tageszeitung". The person who fell first is not to blame for the accident.
This is part of the risk in the mountains that everyone who undertakes alpine tours has to accept. On the other hand, there is a duty to provide first aid to the injured. And finally, the unwritten law of helping others applies on the mountain.
The alpinist who continued climbing after dragging others with him did not follow this law.