10 meter free fall

Man called for rescue himself after falling 70 meters

A man from Völkermarkt must have had a particularly attentive guardian angel. Because when he fell down an embankment behind his house on Monday night, he was able to call for rescue himself.

It is still unclear how the accident happened, but at around 10.50 p.m. a 58-year-old man from Völkermarkt was walking on his property. "He fell down the adjacent embankment and only came to rest after about 70 meters," reports the police.

"At 11:02 p.m., we were called out to provide stretcher assistance via the silent alarm. An operation that is normally dealt with quite quickly," explains the Völkermarkt volunteer fire department. "When we arrived at the scene, the investigation revealed that a person had fallen over a 60-metre embankment. The last 10 meters were virtually in free fall." Fortunately, the man did not lose consciousness.

"He was miraculously still responsive and started the rescue chain himself with his cell phone," says the Völkermarkt volunteer fire department, describing the fortunate course of events. The 58-year-old had called his partner, who then alerted the emergency services. Together with the Bad Eisenkappel mountain rescue team, the man was finally rescued using a rope hoist and was taken to Klagenfurt Hospital after receiving emergency medical treatment.