Collision at the edge of the slope

German critically injured while tobogganing

Symbolic image(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger © Daniel Scharinger)

While tobogganing in Schladming, Styria, a German (41) and his friends were chasing a stray toboggan. Suddenly he crashed into a 40-centimeter-high slope edge. The man, who was not wearing a helmet, is now in mortal danger. He was flown to Salzburg University Hospital.

A 41-year-old German man's skiing vacation in the Schladming-Dachstein region came to a dramatic end on Friday evening: he and his friends set off for the Hochwurzen to toboggan down into the valley after a visit to a ski hut. As the men were about to sit down on their toboggans at around 9.30 p.m., one of the toboggans suddenly went off on its own and drove down into the valley without an owner.

German crashed into the edge of the slope
The men wanted to catch up with the sledge, got on their sledges and picked up speed. Meanwhile, a female ski tourer was ascending along piste 33, which was closed to tobogganing. Suddenly, the 38-year-old Salzburg woman from the St. Johann im Pongau district saw the unmanned toboggan whizz past.

The next moment, she told the police, she heard a "clunk" and found the German, who had apparently crashed into the edge of the slope, which was around 40 centimetres high. "The woman immediately administered first aid and made an emergency call," says Leo Josefus from the Styrian Provincial Police Directorate.

Man in mortal danger
The man, who was not wearing a helmet - his life is now in danger due to multiple injuries - was flown to Salzburg University Hospital by rescue helicopter. The exact circumstances of the accident are still being investigated by the police, but his friends are unlikely to have noticed.