Canyoning accident

Man drifted off: major search operation for missing man

A large-scale search operation was launched.(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

A terrible accident is believed to have occurred on Wednesday evening near the Jägerbrücke bridge in the municipality of Bach in the Tyrolean Außerfern. A 40-year-old German man was part of a canyoning group and was unable to get out of a pool on his own. A short time later, the canyoning guide made an emergency call. A large-scale search operation was called off hours later and is to be continued on Thursday.

The missing man was part of a group of five people who went canyoning in the area of the Jägerbrücke bridge in the Sulztal valley on Wednesday afternoon. At a 25 meter high abseiling point, the 40-year-old German was the first of the group to abseil down and, for reasons as yet unknown, was unable to get out of a pool below on his own.

When the group was no longer able to make visual contact with the group member after further abseils, an emergency call was made at 7.15 pm.

Die Polizei

The canyoning guide, a 34-year-old German, was able to observe how the man drifted further into the gorge from the pool. "When the group was no longer able to make visual contact with the group member after further abseiling passages, an emergency call was made at 7.15 pm," according to the police.

Large-scale search operation
The alerted mountain rescue team called for the canyoning team from the Reutte district, which entered the Sulztal valley. The RK 2 emergency helicopter was also deployed and carried out a search flight over the Sulzlbach. The Stockack and Bach fire departments manned sighting posts at the bridges.

The remaining members of the group, another canyoning guide (32) in training from the Czech Republic and three other participants from Germany (aged 17 and 39) were rescued from the gorge at around 8.30 p.m. using a cable winch. Despite the use of a drone, the search for the missing person was unsuccessful and had to be called off at around 10.30 p.m. due to the onset of darkness. The search will continue on Thursday.