Hall (Austria) – A snow avalanche hit and buried at least five soldiers from Mittenwald during an exercise in Tyrol.
The accident happened around 1:10 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. According to Thomas Zingerle, commander of the Neustift police force, 19 mountain troops took part in the exercise. They dug snow holes or snow caves southeast of the Stubaier Wildspitze, which should serve as emergency bivouacs in an emergency.
In the steep terrain below the Wildspitze, the slab of snow came loose, which can be clearly seen from the edges in the upper part of the photo
The snow slab, 30 meters wide and ten meters long, broke away at 3150 meters and caught the mountain troops. Two got completely under the snow masses, three were partially buried. However, they were able to free themselves or were freed by their comrades.
Three men aged 21 and 26 were seriously injured when they took the emergency helicopter to nearby clinics.
Piste rescuers from the Stubai Glacier, mountain rescuers from Neustift, the Vorderen Stubaital and Sölden as well as several emergency helicopters, the Libelle Tirol and avalanche dogs were used to rescue and recover the injured soldiers.
The Tyrolean avalanche warning service warned on Tuesday of a significant danger in parts of the Austrian state.