On dragon wall

Pole slipped and hit his head on the rock

Serious accident in the mountains. The challenging via ferrata on the Drachenwand near Mondsee (Upper Austria) claimed another victim. A 52-year-old Pole had lost his footing and hit his head on the rock. A female climber following him immediately provided first aid.

The 52-year-old Pole and a friend were on the Drachenwand via ferrata in the municipality of Mondsee on Thursday. The via ferrata, which has a difficulty of C/D (difficult to very difficult) and has around 400 meters of altitude to overcome, is also divided into 20 sections, with the climber being in section 12 at the time.

Lost his footing
At around 3.30 p.m., he suddenly lost his footing, fell and hit his head on the rock and was stopped by the via ferrata equipment after about two meters at the next intermediate belay. A female climber from Hungary who was following was able to observe the accident and immediately provided first aid and informed the emergency services.

Companion was at the summit 
The mountain rescue service, the Alpine police and the "Christophorus 6" emergency helicopter rushed to the scene of the accident. At around 4.15 p.m., the emergency helicopter team was able to rescue the injured man by rope and the emergency doctor was able to provide him with medical treatment at the intermediate landing site. He was flown to a hospital in Salzburg with injuries of indeterminate severity.

The person accompanying the accident victim was found a short time later at the summit by the mountain rescuers who had climbed up and accompanied to the nearest forest road and brought back to the car.