Curious mission

Plunged three meters: “Wanted to get to know a woman”

To get to the woman, the young man jumped three meters into the water.(Bild: zVg)

Because he wanted to get to know the "water woman", a young man from Steyr jumped three meters over a bank wall. But he had misjudged the height, and his attempt to make contact ended with broken bones and a major fire department operation.

"I saw the Steyr water woman standing in the middle of the river and wanted to get to know her. I jumped down and unfortunately misjudged the height and ground," says Peter-Christoph W. (28) the day after the fire and rescue operation he triggered in Steyr.

Two broken bones
In order to get to the "bathing mermaid", the young man from Steyr jumped over a three-metre-high bank wall of the Steyr, breaking his ankle and wrist in the process. The subsequent operation not only attracted numerous onlookers, but also provided entertainment on social media.

The injured man was rescued using a basket stretcher.(Bild: Feuerwehr Steyr, Krone KREATIV)

Garbage fished out of the river
"Now the young lads are jumping to their doom because of you," commented one user in the direction of the Steyr water woman, an artist who had fished garbage out of the river that day. The 28-year-old has his hand in plaster after his offensive contact and can only move around with crutches. "But I take the failed jump with humor."

30 volunteers in action
Manuel Brunner from the Steyr fire department, who, like 100 other firefighters, was alerted by the control center to a "deep person rescue", was less amused. 30 volunteers then spent around an hour rescuing the injured man.