Matrei in East Tyrol

Excavator operator falls into stream bed during road construction – dead

The excavator crashed for unknown reasons.(Bild: FF Matrei , Krone KREATIV)

The crash of a crawler excavator on the Schildalm in East Tyrol ended fatally for a 56-year-old worker on Sunday: the man was apparently thrown out of the driver's cab and remained lying in the bed of the stream with head injuries. The excavator fell even further. 

On Sunday morning, a 56-year-old Austrian was carrying out maintenance work on a road with a crawler excavator in the Tauerntal valley (municipality of Matrei in East Tyrol) in the Stockbach-Graben area south of the Schildalm at around 1750 meters above sea level.

At around 9.45 a.m., for reasons as yet unknown, he fell with the excavator over steep terrain and suffered fatal head injuries. The victim remained lying in the bed of the stream about 50 meters below the crash site, the excavator came to a standstill after another 70 meters - also in the bed of the stream.

Eyewitness observed the drama
The incident was witnessed by a person who was on the opposite side of the valley at the time of the accident. This person set the rescue chain in motion. The emergency doctor from the "Christophorus 7" rescue helicopter was only able to determine that the 56-year-old had died.

The body was subsequently recovered by the crew of the police helicopter using a rope and flown down into the valley.

The local mountain rescue and fire brigade as well as the alpine police and 2 patrols from the Matrei police station in East Tyrol were also deployed.