Sonar on Tuesday

Search for missing family man interrupted

At the Madonna dive site, the Traunsee is searched for the missing diver.

(Bild: Matthias Lauber/laumat.at)

The search for a 44-year-old father from Steinhaus near Wels, who sank in Lake Traunsee on Saturday during a dive with his wife and three other "buddies", has been interrupted. The search will continue on Tuesday with a sonar that will be lowered into the depths.

In the meantime, it has been reconstructed what was planned on Saturday: the 44-year-old and his 36-year-old wife from Steinhaus wanted to descend to a depth of 20 meters with a group of three other people. The 36-year-old had problems during the descent at a depth of just five meters, which is why she carried out an emergency ascent. According to initial reports, her husband had tried to help her and she broke free.

Major operation with divers and sonar
The other members of the group also resurfaced in the meantime, as they had become lost due to the poor visibility. After her husband failed to resurface, the 36-year-old woman informed the diving instructor, who was in the immediate vicinity with another diving group. The instructor immediately carried out two consecutive dives to 40 and 50 meters, but was unable to find the father of the family.

A large-scale search operation was launched by the water rescue team, the fire department and the police. The waters around the dive site were searched using scanning and sonar equipment, including a towed sonar. Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful and the search was called off shortly after 8 pm.

Currents make the search difficult
On Tuesday, the search for the missing man will resume with a towed sonar. The Traunsee is up to 160 meters deep, at this point the steep wall goes 120 meters into the depth, currents make it difficult to narrow down the search area.