Challenging scenarios

160 mountain rescuers practiced in the border triangle

Mountain rescuers from three federal states trained together.

(Bild: Bergrettung/Stecker)

Challenging scenarios were on the agenda on Saturday during a large-scale exercise involving mountain rescuers from Lungau, Carinthia and Styria. From avalanches with buried victims to snowshoe hikers in distress, a wide variety of emergency situations were practiced. 

"It was the largest and most comprehensive exercise to date," said Hannes Kocher, district manager of the Lungau Mountain Rescue Service, satisfied that the procedures at the winter district exercise ran smoothly. 

Around 160 rescuers were deployed in Schönfeld (municipality of Thomatal in Lungau). Eight scenarios at altitudes between 1725 and 2340 meters above sea level were on the training program. 

Four avalanche accidents, two climbers who had an accident in the Großer Königsstuhl area, snowshoe hikers in distress in the Rosaninscharte area, a quad bike accident with four casualties in a ditch that was difficult to access and a serious forestry accident were fortunately only part of the exercise. The full range of rescue tasks was completed in just one morning.

36 flights took place during the mountain rescue exercise.

(Bild: Bergrettung/Stecker)

The teams from the "Black Hawk" and "Bell 212" army helicopters and the "Libelle" helicopter from the Ministry of the Interior's Air Operations Center played a key role in the large-scale exercise. Together, they carried out 36 flights from the assembly point and base at Pension Almsonne in Schönfeld, transporting teams and equipment into the alpine terrain as well as rescuing people on ropes in the Great Königsstuhl deployment area.

Various emergencies in the snow were practiced.

(Bild: Bergrettung/Stecker)

The exercises were coordinated by the Tamsweg district authority's operations management together with the emergency organizations. Teams from the local mountain rescue stations in Lungau (Tamsweg, Mauterndorf, Zederhaus, Muhr), the Lieser-Maltatal (Carinthia) and Murau (Styria) were involved, supported by Salzburg and Carinthian mountain rescue dog teams, from the Lungau Red Cross, the Thomatal and Ramingstein volunteer fire departments, with fire department flight assistants from all over Lungau, the Federal Army Avalanche Rescue Platoon from the Strucker Barracks and the Alpine Police.