Helicopter rescue

Dutch hiker keeps mountain rescuers on their toes

The exhausted Dutch woman was rescued by the crew of the Libelle police helicopter and flown to the Bielerhöhe.(Bild: Webcam/Bielerhöhe)

Despite wintry conditions at altitudes above 2000 meters, a Dutch hiking group, whose members were between 61 and 65 years old, wanted to hike along a marked hiking trail from the Wiesbadner Hütte over the 2737-meter-high Litznersattel to the Saarbrücke Hütte on Wednesday afternoon in Gaschurn. This proved fatal for a 61-year-old woman.

At the height of the Klostertaler Umwelthütte, a female hiker began to experience symptoms of exhaustion. Despite taking a break, the 61-year-old had to give in to the persistent exhaustion, which is why she sat down on the spot.

Another hiker tried to catch up with a previous hiker in the group and made an emergency call to rescue the exhausted woman. The Gallus 1 rescue helicopter dispatched to rescue the 61-year-old Dutch woman searched the area described above without success.

However, as the woman could not be found at the specified location, a search operation was initiated by the Gaschurn mountain rescue team and the Libelle police helicopter.

The crew of the Libelle police helicopter was deployed.(Bild: Webcam/Bielerhöhe)

At around 7.05 pm, the woman was finally discovered unharmed in the area of the Klostertal/Ochsental junction and rescued by the Libelle police helicopter, which flew her to the Bielerhöhe. Investigations by the police revealed that the hiker had seen the rescue helicopter fly over but had misjudged it. For this reason, the Dutch woman continued her descent towards the Silvretta reservoir.