Black Saturday

Air policeman: “Never experienced anything like it in 25 years”

On Saturday, Harald Strimitzer and his team and his "Libelle" rescued two Dutchmen on the Schareck, but also recovered three dead climbers.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Three fatal recoveries and countless hours in the air, including a cinematic rescue: Salzburg air policeman Harald Strimitzer will not soon forget this Saturday.

Harald Strimitzer has been an air policeman for 25 years. Born in Bad Mitterndorf, he has seen pretty much everything you can experience as a flying law enforcement officer. The most recent Saturday, however, was unprecedented: at around 9.30 am, the experienced helicopter pilot took off for the first time following an emergency call and landed back at the office at Salzburg Airport shortly before 9 pm. In between, there were some cinematic scenes and, unfortunately, many human tragedies.