Details now known

Avalanche death in Tyrol: It was father and son

The emergency services on the mighty avalanche(Bild: zoom.tirol)

After the tragic avalanche accident on St. Stephen's Day in the Tyrolean Zillertal, further tragic details became known in the evening: The fatalities were a local father (51) and his son (22). Another son (19) survived.

As reported, the drama began shortly before 12 noon on the well-known ski touring mountain near Hippach. It involved a group of four ski tourers - consisting of a father (51), his two sons (22 and 19 years old) and a 19-year-old friend.

Accident on a 37 degree east-facing slope
According to surveys, the friend was already standing at the foot of the 37-degree steep eastern slope. An avalanche then broke loose, sweeping the 51-year-old and the 22-year-old around 300 meters and burying them. Other athletes observed this, set the rescue chain in motion and began digging for the victims.

Search dogs were also on the avalanche cone.(Bild: zoom.tirol)

Major search operation launched
A major search operation was launched in the valley with three mountain rescue teams, the Alpine police, two emergency helicopters and the police helicopter. "First we evaluated whether the situation was safe. Then the emergency services were flown to the avalanche cone," explains head of operations Florian Wechselberger from Mayrhofen Mountain Rescue.

The disastrous slope seen from above(Bild: zoom.tirol)

Son resuscitated in vain, then father found dead
The search operation turned out to be difficult; according to the Tyrol control center, no avalanche beacon signals could initially be located for the buried victims. Using probes, the emergency services finally found the buried victims - initially the 22-year-old at a depth of around two meters at around 1 pm. He was resuscitated, but unfortunately all help came too late. 20 minutes later, the 51-year-old was also located at a depth of one meter and dug out, but he was already dead. The 19-year-old second son, who was also already on the accident slope, was able to escape the avalanche by fleeing at speed. 

Chances of survival drop quickly
"If buried victims are not dug out within 15 minutes, the survival rate drops quickly," explains Wechselberger.

There was already an avalanche alert in Tyrol on Christmas Day. Three people were swept away and partially buried by a dust avalanche on the Nordkette. Everything turned out well.