Result of the autopsy

Instead of a sunset, the family found a corpse

The family discovered the dead Regauer (73) floating in the water in the marina in Schörfling am Attersee.

(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

A big shock for parents and their ten-year-old son after a boat trip on Lake Attersee last Friday. The father did everything he could to bring an unresponsive swimmer (73) back to life, but the emergency doctor could only determine his death. It is now clear what caused the 73-year-old's death.

The family was still in shock several hours later and had to come to terms with the images and what they had experienced. A planned evening trip by boat to enjoy the sunset on Lake Attersee ended in a nightmare shortly after setting sail last Friday.

Father brought the unconscious ashore
The parents (37, 40) and their ten-year-old son were still in the harbor area of Schörfling when they discovered a person in the water who was no longer moving. The 37-year-old father jumped from the boat into the lake and pulled the motionless man onto the jetty. He immediately began resuscitation measures and the emergency services, including an ambulance, arrived shortly afterwards. But there was no more help: the doctor could only determine that the man had died.

Nobody had noticed anything
The alerted police were able to quickly establish the identity of the deceased: It was a 73-year-old man from Regau who had gone to Lake Attersee alone to spend the hot Thursday there. No one had seen him enter the water or noticed the accident. A forensic autopsy was ordered to clarify the cause of death.

The results are now available: "The possibility of any external cause can be ruled out. Instead, there are indications of a heart attack," reports Silke Enzlmüller from the responsible public prosecutor's office in Wels. The 73-year-old probably drowned in Lake Attersee due to the heart attack.

Temperature differences put a strain on the body
As a general rule, cooling off in the lake is not entirely harmless if the temperature difference between the air and water is ten degrees or more.

According to medical experts, the body reacts with a temperature shock when you jump directly from the sun into the cool water, which causes blood pressure to rise and blood vessels to contract. This puts a strain on the circulation and can lead to collapse, brief unconsciousness or a heart attack.