Young mother died

Emergency services also suffer after fatal accident

All that was left of the family car was a pile of metal

(Bild: TEAM FOTOKERSCHI / MARTIN SCHARINGER)

It was a terrible sight for the emergency services after the devastating collision in Bad Leonfelden on Friday. In addition to the drama surrounding the deceased driver (34) from Linz, the woman's three young children also had to be cared for. A mission that also pushed the rescuers to their limits.

For a family of five from Linz, nothing has been the same since Friday. The young mother (34) lost control of her car in Bad Leonfelden and crashed into an oncoming truck. Despite all the efforts of the emergency services, the 34-year-old died at the scene of the accident and her three children (3, 6, 10) in the car were injured.

A candle at the scene of the accident commemorates the tragedy

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

Thomas Mayr from Urfahr District Rescue Command was one of the first at the scene of the accident - he describes the dramatic minutes: "We only knew that a car had crashed into a truck and that several people were involved. When we arrived, first responders had already approached us."

Children taken to hospital together
"They got the children out of the car and took them some distance away from the accident site. All three were taken to hospital together in an ambulance in Linz," says Mayr. "Firefighters then shielded the car from onlookers so that we could work in peace. In a situation like that, you just work."

He praises the solidarity within the Red Cross family, as all the paramedics involved were relieved after the stressful operation.

"Operations with fatalities are never an everyday occurrence"
Oliver Gossenreiter, deputy commander of the Bad Leonfelden fire brigade, was the incident commander responsible for the Florianis. "The vehicle was lying on its side. We stabilized it and opened the roof so that we could get the trapped driver out," says Gossenreiter. "Operations with fatalities are not an everyday occurrence for us, we have to get to grips with that first."

A difficult journey for the family
Both emergency organizations took advantage of internal offers of help after the incident. Help was also organized for the relatives of the deceased - for them, the difficult path of coming to terms with the incident is now beginning.