Child almost drowned

After saving her life: “I only did the right thing”

Kurt Koller and his son Sebastian became lifesavers.

(Bild: © pictureshooting.AT)

A two-year-old girl owes her survival to several lucky circumstances. While playing, the child fell into an underground watercourse and was immediately swept away. Her lifesaver spoke to the "OÖ-Krone" about the dramatic minutes.

A two-year-old girl from Peuerbach had a whole army of guardian angels. The little girl and her Afghan family were out on a hiking trail in the "Valley of the Seven Mills" in their home town on Friday evening in perfect late summer weather.

Child fell into the water
The Leithenbach stream runs close to the path, from which several tributaries lead to a small power station. The family is said to have visited one of the weirs, during which the girl climbed onto the weir and fell into the water.

Father jumped in after his daughter
The two-year-old was immediately pulled into the underground watercourse, which is around one meter in diameter. "It's pitch black there, it's about three-quarters full and torrential," says Wolfgang Eder from the Peuerbach fire department, who was on duty at the time of the accident. After about 200 meters, the covered canal flows into the turbine of the small power plant.

Hunter on site by chance
At the time of the accident, Kurt Koller (44) was also out and about in the nearby forest with his wife and two children "to collect decorative material for a nativity scene", as the passionate hunter told the "Krone" newspaper. Suddenly, the girl's father came towards him, very excited, and called for help.

The two-year-old fell into the water.

(Bild: © pictureshooting.AT)

"I then went with him to the weir. As I have the hunting ground there, I knew that there were maintenance shafts above the canal," says the 44-year-old. This was a stroke of luck, as it would be impossible for people unfamiliar with the area to know or find the openings in the overgrown terrain.

Dramatic minutes
While Koller ran to the first shaft, the girl's father also jumped into the watercourse in desperation and disappeared into the darkness. But the two of them were extremely lucky and probably got stuck in a narrow passage.

Cries of the girl heard
"When I opened the first manhole cover about 50 meters after the inflow, I could already hear the child screaming," says Koller. The father and the girl then came up through the shaft and were both shocked and happy. While the hunter's wife set the rescue chain in motion, the 13-year-old son helped to lift the manhole cover and then instructed the approaching emergency services.

Almost unharmed
The toddler was handed over to them, wet and hypothermic, but almost unharmed. The firefighters, who were also called to help, only had to secure the scene of the accident. Commander Eder concludes: "If the hunter hadn't acted so quickly, the child would probably have drowned." The lifesaver himself says modestly: "Everyone simply did the right thing. You're just happy when everything turns out well."