Act of desperation?

Mountaineering legend and his wife died in the fire

All that remained of the three-storey wooden house was rubble and ashes.

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

What was already feared became a sad certainty on Wednesday. Human remains were most likely found in the ruins of the fire in St. Ilgen (municipality of Thörl) in Styria. It is likely to be the two residents, Rudi Lindner, 83-year-old mountaineering legend, and his beloved wife Helga.

What happened in the farmhouse on the Zwainerberg at the foot of the Hochschwab on Monday night? This question will probably never be fully answered. What is certain is that the three-storey wooden building went up in flames around midnight and burned down completely despite intensive fire-fighting efforts by the fire department.

All that remained of the three-storey wooden building was rubble and ashes.

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Days of searching
For almost two days, fire investigators from the Styrian State Office of Criminal Investigation dug through mountains of burnt wood, sometimes by hand and on all fours, with uniformed colleagues and dog handlers (including cadaver and arson detection dogs) - searching for traces of the missing couple.

Fire inferno at night.

(Bild: FF St. Ilgen)

The couple is said to have lived in the remote area since 1974, i.e. for 50 years. They are said to have rented the old farmhouse that stood on the land back then and rebuilt it with their own hands. "Back then, it resembled a bivouac," Rudi Lindner once said.

Forced eviction was on the cards
The mountaineer and author was known as the "Hochschwab Emperor". Lindner can lay claim to more than 20 first ascents in the Hochschwab region. Some of them together with his wife Helga, his rope partner.

The blue of the sky can and cannot be explained. A ray of sunshine and the swirling plumes of snow in a storm can and cannot be explained. What is a tree, what is a raven's cry? What is man? What is pleasure and pain?

Rudi Lindner in seinem Buch „Hochschwab“

A drastic step out of despair?
Now the old people should obviously move out. There is talk in the village of great tension between them and the owner. There was talk of eviction. Civil proceedings were underway, but Thörl's mayor Günther Wagner did not want to comment further. Allegedly, there was no fixed date for the impending move-out.

It is possible that the couple decided to take a drastic step on Sunday in desperation because they did not want to leave their home. "They were driven to their deaths", the village hails accusations. However, no one seems to know the other side of the coin.

Smallest particles recovered
It is still unclear whether the traces seized (tiny particles) are actually of human origin. And if they are, it is not certain whether DNA analysis is even possible. The fire raged too strongly and may have destroyed all evidence of genetic material.

Fire-related traces also need to be analyzed. However, the current picture suggests that the fire broke out inside the house. The LKA investigators are hoping for results from forensic medicine next week. In the meantime, the complex investigation of the surrounding area continues. The couple are still officially missing.

If you find yourself in an exceptional psychological situation, please contact: Telefonseelsorge 142, crisis hotline PsyNot 0800 44 99 33, Männerotruf 0800 246 247.