Searched for two days

Mellau: Help came too late for missing hiker

The Libelle police helicopter.

(Bild: FEST Klagenfurt)

A 23-year-old man who had been missing since Tuesday was found dead on Thursday near the Alpe Nesselfluh in Vorarlberg. He was lying under a rock ledge.

Mountain rescuers spent two days searching for a young man who had set off on a hike at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. After he had still not returned on Wednesday, a missing person's report was filed with the police in Bezau and the rescue chain was set in motion.

However, fog, rain and snowfall hampered the search operation considerably over the course of the day. In the afternoon hours, a helicopter search was no longer possible. The search was continued by 15 members of the mountain rescue team and two sniffer dogs in three groups.

Search aborted
Due to the appalling snowfall and the exposed location, the search team also had to call off this operation in the evening hours.

In much better conditions, the rescue teams - including the crew of the "Libelle" police helicopter as well as 18 mountain rescuers from the Mellau and Bizau localities, a sniffer dog and eight members of the Alpine Operations Group - resumed the search at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Around two hours later, the missing man was found about 230 meters east of Alpe Nesselfluh under a rock ledge at an altitude of 1290 meters. The local doctor taking part in the search was only able to determine that the young man had died.