Major operation in Pöllau

Man lying helpless in a stream bed at night: rescued

The man was rescued from this stream bed.(Bild: FF Pöllau)

Dramatic moments in the early hours of Saturday morning in Pöllau near Hartberg in Eastern Styria: a man had fallen into a stream bed and was unable to get up himself. The emergency services were called out to rescue the man in the bitterly cold night.

The cause of the accident is still unclear. The Red Cross was alerted at around 3 a.m. and rushed to the scene of the accident, a stream in the Obersaifen district. Shortly afterwards, at 3.32 a.m., the volunteer fire department was requested to provide assistance.

Fighting hypothermia
The man was lying helplessly in the bed of the stream and was unable to free himself from his predicament. He was lucky that he had not landed directly in the water and so the risk of hypothermia was minimized.

The fire department illuminated the scene.(Bild: FF Pöllau)

Major operation with 32 firefighters
The fire department doctor and paramedics assisted the Red Cross on site in treating the man, who had sustained injuries of indeterminate severity. The rest of the 32-strong team illuminated the scene until the casualty could finally be rescued using a basket stretcher. He was handed over to the emergency doctor.