They acted immediately

First aiders rescue a young man suffering from hypothermia

The rescuers Elfi Oberbichler, Ludwig Schweiger, Albert Pichler, Kathrin Oberbichler with paramedics Christoph Schörgenhumer, Lisa Warga, Hubert Weitgasser.(Bild: Rotes Kreuz Salzburg_/ Christoph Hasenauer)

It could have ended badly. But four people from Bad Gastein were on the scene when a man was unable to save himself from an ice-cold stream.

This is what effective help looks like. At the end of February, four passers-by from Bad Gastein provided first aid to a man suffering from severe hypothermia. The quartet was out and about in the Kötschachtal district of Bad Gastein, where it had snowed heavily the day before. Suddenly Kathrin Oberbichler, her mother Elfi Oberbichler, Albert Pichler and Ludwig Schweiger heard cries for help.

They discovered a helpless casualty. The young man from another village had apparently slipped down a slope into an icy stream. "We saw him lying there and then we just reacted," recalls Elfi Oberbichler. "We heard the cries for help and ran straight away," adds her daughter Kathrin.

Man was allowed to warm up in someone else's car
The four locals pulled him out of the ditch and called the Red Cross. They tended to him until the Red Cross paramedics arrived. They then wrapped him in several rescue blankets and put him in Ludwig Schweiger's car to keep him warm. The young man, who was not a local resident, was taken to Schwarzach Hospital after being treated by the Red Cross. Thanks to their exemplary and courageous intervention, the Pongau first aiders saved the life of the accident victim.