Kayaker died

Roaring Lammeröfen were the Czechs’ undoing

(Bild: Wasserrettung Salzburg)

Sunday morning it was a sad certainty: the missing kayaker was recovered dead from the mountain river.

The melting snow makes mountain rivers like the Lammer particularly attractive for kayakers. The Tennengau river was the fate of a 36-year-old Czech man on Saturday evening. As part of a group of five, he kayaked through the Lammeröfen twice.

On the third crossing, a disastrous accident occurred: at a raging and narrowed section of the gorge, the 36-year-old hit a rock and was pulled under water with his kayak. The well-equipped water sports enthusiast was unable to free himself from his kayak and reach the surface.

Around 50 emergency services from the water rescue, mountain rescue, fire department and police rescued the body of the accident victim early on Sunday morning.

(Bild: Wasserrettung Salzburg)

As reported, a major search operation had to be called off late on Saturday evening due to the high water level. Due to the lower temperatures, less water came down from the mountain overnight and the water level dropped in the morning hours. More than 50 emergency services from the water rescue, mountain rescue, fire department and police resumed the search in the early hours of the morning.

"We then found the victim relatively quickly near the exit of the gorge and were able to rescue him from the water," explains Herbert Gewolf, regional head of water rescue operations. The kayak is so firmly trapped that it will have to be rescued at a later time when the water level is even lower.

Recovery at the exit of the gorge was difficult
The recovery of the deceased was also difficult and took hours. The Lammeröfen are narrow at the accident site at the exit and the terrain is steep. The emergency services had to abseil into the gorge from the popular gorge hiking trail to reach the injured kayaker.