At a height of 15 meters

Tandem pilot landed in the middle of a tree in Zell am See

The pilot and passenger were stuck 15 meters above the ground.

(Bild: Bergrettung Zell/See)

The mountain rescue team in Zell am See (Pinzgau district) was alerted at 12.20 pm on Wednesday: A tandem pilot had gotten stuck in a tree with his paraglider. The pilot and his passenger had taken off from the Schmittenhöhe around midday in marginal weather conditions.

The flight of the paragliding entrepreneur from Kaprun finally ended in the Fürthbachgraben south of the Schmittenhöhe summit. The rescue helicopter team "Alpin Heli 6" was able to determine in a visual flight that both passengers were uninjured. The helicopter stationed in Zell therefore took off again. In the meantime, eight mountain rescuers from the Zell local station climbed up to the accident site in the Lauferalm area (784 m).

Pilot and passenger remained uninjured
On arrival, the mountain rescue team found the pilot and passenger in the tree about 15 meters above the ground. The mountain rescuers used a special chainsaw to remove some branches. They then used the tree rescue equipment to fight their way to the casualties. "We were able to rescue the two of them after around one and a half hours and then bring them down to the valley unharmed," said Thomas Schwaiger, head of operations and local station in Zell.