Injured in Tyrol

Avalanche: Car with several occupants caught in avalanche

The avalanche is said to have started from the summit south of the Mute (right) down into the Längental valley (archive image).

(Bild: Peter Freiberger)

An avalanche occurred in Kühtai in Tyrol on Tuesday afternoon: A construction site vehicle carrying five people was caught in the snow masses in the area of the construction site for the storage power plant and swept 30 meters into the depths. The construction workers were able to climb out of the wreck themselves.

At around 12 noon on Tuesday, an avalanche occurred on a large construction site in Kühtai (municipality of Silz), affecting a construction site vehicle occupied by five construction workers. The vehicle was caught by a snow slab on a construction road below the Zwölferkogel at an altitude of around 2140 meters above sea level and was swept around 30 meters.

Vehicle crashed onto the bend below
Although the vehicle overturned and came to a standstill on its wheels on another, lower-lying construction road, the construction workers - four Austrians and one Italian national aged 29, 32, 33, 43 and 52 - were able to get out of the vehicle on their own.

To hospital for clarification
The occupants were subsequently given first aid by the doctor who had been alerted at the site office and, according to initial diagnoses, only suffered minor injuries. They were then taken to Zams Hospital by ambulance for further medical treatment and clarification. The vehicle involved in the accident sustained considerable material damage. 

The avalanche occurred in Kühtai on Tuesday afternoon.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Problems on roads, avalanche risk increases
In parts of Tyrol - including Kühtai - there were already huge amounts of fresh snow on Tuesday. This had already caused problems on the roads. For example, the Fernpass between Nassereith and Lermoos had to be closed in the morning due to vehicles getting stuck.

The avalanche situation on the mountains is set to get worse. Due to the fresh snow, danger level 4, i.e. high avalanche danger, will prevail in the affected regions.