Dramatic scenes

Graz: Man floated in the Mur for 30 minutes – rescued!

Dramatic scenes unfolded in Graz on Sunday morning: a 32-year-old man was adrift in the River Mur! Several rescue attempts initially failed, but the man survived.

Shortly after 9.30 a.m., passers-by alerted the emergency services: a man was floating in the Mur near the Kunsthaus, which currently has a very high water level due to the heavy rainfall. Several witnesses followed the man on the bank and repeatedly gave the police the exact location of the 32-year-old.

Several rescue attempts were made, for example with lifebuoys or a rope that was lowered from the Puchsteg. One police officer, secured by another officer, even jumped into the Mur himself with a lifebuoy. But initially all efforts failed.

Man was conscious
It was only near the Mur power station in the south of the city that the man was finally rescued using a stretcher ("backboard") from the fire department. The man had already been in the cold river for a good 30 minutes.

He was first treated by an emergency doctor and then taken to the regional hospital. According to the police, the 32-year-old was conscious.