Senior citizen rescued

Dog handler reports on successful mission

(Bild: ÖRHB)

Normally the dogs are praised when a dog handler team finds a missing person during a search operation. In this case, "Frisco" was also involved, but his mistress had a good nose. Manuela Huemer spoke about the rescue with the "Krone".

The concern for a woman from Gmunden who went missing on Saturday was enormous. The husband (85) had raised the alarm because the 83-year-old with severe dementia had left the apartment in an unobserved moment and could no longer be found. A search in the immediate vicinity was unsuccessful. 120 emergency services - including police patrols, service dog patrols, two helicopters, two fire departments, search dogs and the Red Cross - set out in search of the pensioner. A drone was also used. From 4 pm, the Gmunden area was combed for hours, but there was no trace of the missing woman.

Helper came from exercise
Due to the cold temperatures (3 degrees Celsius), fears for her well-being increased. Dog handler Manuela Huemer (51) from Steyr was initially at a rescue dog brigade exercise in Schwertberg. From there, she set off in the evening with her dog "Frisco" in the car to Gmunden. "Near Laakirchen, I saw a woman matching the description walking on the other side of the road in the dark."

As I was driving through Laakirchen, I suddenly noticed a woman walking on the other side of the road.

Lebensretterin Manuela Huemer kümmerte sich sofort um die stark demente 83-Jährige

She immediately turned around and spoke to the pensioner. "It was actually the lady I was looking for - she was fine. I then took her to Gmunden in the car and handed her over to the emergency services," says Huemer. For the 51-year-old, this was an enormous feeling of happiness. "It's incredibly nice when you can help a search turn out so well!"