Difficult rescue

Crash with paraglider: Man (57) seriously injured

A 57-year-old paraglider pilot from Upper Austria crashed around 100 meters in the Dachstein mountains in Styria on Saturday afternoon and was seriously injured. His son (21), who was flying himself at the time, witnessed the accident.

At around 1 p.m., the 57-year-old from the Wels-Land district was paragliding from Stoderzinken together with his 21-year-old son.

In the area of the Dachstein mountains at an altitude of around 2300 meters, the 57-year-old's paraglider suddenly collapsed, presumably due to gusts of wind, and the man fell uncontrollably around 100 meters into the depths.

Despite an immediately deployed rescue parachute, the 57-year-old hit the ground in a steep rocky gully south of the summit of the Scheichenkoppen and was seriously injured.

Son witnessed the accident
The son was able to observe the accident from the air and informed the rescue services. Due to the weather and local conditions, a helicopter rescue was not possible at first.

The injured man was brought to the summit by members of the Ramsau am Dachstein mountain rescue service by land, where he was rescued by the Martin 1 emergency helicopter via deflation. The Upper Austrian was flown to Schwarzach Regional Hospital.