Victim lay in the cold

Barely survived serious tobogganing accident

In Austria, 2,200 injured people have to be treated in hospital after tobogganing accidents every year. That's an average of twelve patients per day during the season.(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger © Daniel Scharinger)

A descent on the Semmering in Lower Austria ended in agonizing pain for a schoolgirl from Burgenland. She crashed her toboggan into a barrier on an icy slope. The 17-year-old suffered a ruptured liver and internal bleeding.

A group of young people from Burgenland went night tobogganing on the Semmering for a change of pace. But the fun soon turned into bitter seriousness. The accident happened on the first descent. On the apparently icy track, a 17-year-old girl was unable to keep on track, went off the piste with her toboggan and crashed into a barrier with full force.

Agonizing pain
"The impact occurred exactly at the point where the wall was supported by a stanchion," said the attendants. The 17-year-old suffered serious injuries. She immediately complained of excruciating pain and could no longer move.

17-year-old suffered a ruptured liver and internal bleeding
According to her mother, the 17-year-old had been lying in the snow in the freezing cold for an extremely long time before she was taken to hospital. A friend stayed with the accident victim. The police were at the scene. "After we were informed about the accident, we immediately went to the hospital in Wiener Neustadt. We were there for over an hour, but our daughter was only admitted at 9.20 pm," said the parents from the Mattersburg district in dismay. At the hospital, a deep liver laceration several centimeters long was discovered. The girl had to receive intensive medical care for three days. 

Our daughter had many guardian angels. She barely survived. The internal bleeding ultimately remained stable.

Familie des Opfers

No response from those responsible
Now the parents want clarification. "The conditions were icy. Our daughter was not the only victim of the accident," explains the mother. After the incident on February 1, she wrote an email to those responsible for the toboggan run. To date, she has not received a reply. "The slope conditions were very different at the time, but no more or less dangerous than usual," say the mountain rescuers, who put in 100 hours of work and service that evening.

Numerous accidents
Four out of five accidents happened on the toboggan run. "As is unfortunately sometimes the case, the missions were very close together at ten-minute intervals. Nevertheless, we rescued all patients as quickly as possible from the rough terrain," emphasize the volunteers.