Equipment complete

Drag mark on wall led to dead diver

Deep divers from the water rescue service recovered the body from a depth of 70 meters.

(Bild: Wasserrettung OÖ)

We can still only speculate about the exact course of the underwater tragedy. But the recovery of the 44-year-old family man who died in the Traunsee will help the investigators. Because his equipment is complete. It is thanks to the intuition of the rescuers that the rescue was so quick.

The equipment has been confiscated and an autopsy ordered - investigators hope to be able to clarify why a 44-year-old diver had a fatal accident at a depth of just five meters in Lake Traunsee on Saturday, as the cause can only be speculated about so far.

The firefighters followed the underwater drone's dive on the monitor and spotted the missing man.

(Bild: AFK Mondsee)

Coincidence during preparatory work
"It was important for us to find the body as quickly as possible and give the family some certainty," says Christian Hackl, head of the Vöcklabruck diving group, base 4, which brings together fire department divers from several locations.

The fact that they found the missing man from Steinhaus near Wels, who is the father of an almost two-year-old daughter, so quickly was a coincidence. "We prepared a large-scale search with the underwater camera," explains the fire department diver. To do this, an underwater robot explored the area in the lake to find places where the camera could get stuck.

Found close to the scene of the accident
But the helpers also had the right nose, following a drag mark on the rock that began where the 44-year-old had sunk on Saturday when he tried to stop his panicked wife (36) from making an emergency ascent. And the trail led, about 20 meters to the side, at a depth of 70 meters - the exact value was provided by the rescue team's dive computers - to a rocky outcrop where the deceased lay.

Deep-diving experts from the water rescue service assisted the firefighters in the rescue operation

(Bild: Wasserrettung OÖ)

Visibility was good again here, which was barely half a meter further up, down to around 14 meters, due to the suspended matter. As the firefighters were not prepared for a rescue, they called in the deep divers from the water rescue service, who were able to recover the body. "We had perfect cooperation," says Hackl.

Victim had no time to react
The drowned man's equipment is complete, he still had his diving mask on and apparently didn't even have time to attempt an emergency ascent - the weight pockets were still in the new buoyancy compensator jacket.