Motionless in the water

Missing 48-year-old lay in the bed of a stream after a fall

A woman in Bad Ischl was probably extremely lucky to be alive after her accident. After a mishap, she fell over a steep embankment into the water. The 48-year-old was unable to move on her own, but managed to raise the alarm on her cell phone. 

On Wednesday afternoon at around 1.45 pm, a report was made to the Bad Ischl police about the disappearance of a 48-year-old local woman. A total of five patrols from the Bad Ischl, Ebensee and Bad Goisern police stations were deployed in the immediate search.

At around 4 pm, the missing woman suddenly contacted a friend and said she was lying in the Rettenbach River near the Rettenbach Gorge. She could no longer move and urgently needed help, the 48-year-old pleaded on her cell phone.

Fell 10 meters down a steep slope
The police patrols immediately searched the area she had mentioned. And indeed: they finally found the woman lying in the water on the banks of the Rettenbach at 4.50 pm. As it turned out at the scene of the accident, she had apparently fallen over the embankment. She had probably tumbled about 10 meters over steep forest terrain of around 50 degrees and then fallen into the stream.

The injured woman received emergency medical treatment and was then rescued with a scoop stretcher by emergency services from the Gmunden Alpine Police with the support of the white water rescue team and paramedics from the Bad Ischl Red Cross. The victim was taken to the Salzkammergutklinikum with indeterminate injuries.