With video of the rescue

Crashed and almost froze to death while lightly clothed

The mountain rescuers carefully made their way over a steep slope to the victim.(Bild: Bergrettung Bad Goisern)

Alpine police, mountain rescuers, helicopters and firefighters in Upper Austria were alerted to a difficult rescue operation on Saturday evening. An 18-year-old Portuguese woman fell around 70 meters in the area of the Hohe Scharte near Bad Goisern and remained lying in the snow, scantily clad. She was able to call for help herself on her cell phone.

At around 6 pm, the Portuguese woman (18) from Canada dialed the emergency number because she had been on a hike for around seven hours and urgently needed help. The GPS coordinates of the woman were successfully obtained and she was presumed to be in the Hohe Scharte area at 1140 meters above sea level.

Major operation launched
Mountain rescuers from Bad Goisern and Bad Ischl, as well as alpine police officers, immediately set off on foot to find the hiker - who could no longer be reached by phone at this point. Two helicopters were also requested for assistance.

Had too light clothing on
At around 6.40 p.m., faint light signals were detected and at around 8 p.m. the injured woman was found. She had probably fallen 70 meters and was lying in the snow on steep terrain, scantily clad for the winter temperatures. She had probably missed the snow-covered path.

Helicopter had to illuminate the scene of the accident
The 18-year-old was immediately warmed up and a rope safety device was set up. Due to the complete darkness, the crew of the "Libelle" had to illuminate the scene of the accident to enable them to work safely. The seriously injured woman was flown by emergency helicopter to Salzburg University Hospital, where she is in intensive care.