After a long search operation

Boat drama on the Mur: worker (24) recovered dead

The fire department, police and water rescue services searched the Mur with search boats.(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

On Wednesday morning, an aluminum boat capsized at the construction site of the new Mur bridge near Graz-Liebenau. Two men were rescued, hypothermic and in shock - a desperate search was made for another worker (24). He was found dead in the floods in the early afternoon.

A large contingent of emergency services from water rescue to the police rushed to the Mur on Wednesday morning. The reason: an aluminum boat had capsized shortly before half past seven in Graz-Liebenau, right next to the construction site of the new Mur bridge on the A2 south freeway. Three people fell into the ice-cold Mur.

The men, all Polish citizens, were probably working on the bridge piers. The aluminum boat of a construction company, anchored to the bank with ropes, served as a platform for them. After a short time, the all-clear was given for two of the three people: They were able to rescue themselves on the banks of the Mur.

Two men taken to the LKH
"We looked after them and then took them to the university hospital with hypothermia and shock," reports Wolfgang Burock, head of operations at the Red Cross, "they had no obvious injuries." The search for the 24-year-old colleague of the two workers went on for hours.

The fire department divers managed to locate the missing worker not far from the accident site in the Mur. All help came too late for him.

Sabri Yorgun

Pressesprecher Polizei Steiermark

Bild: Jauschowetz Christian

In the early afternoon, the sad certainty: "The divers from the fire department managed to locate the missing worker not far from the scene of the accident in the Mur. All help came too late for him," according to the Styrian police. Investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.

The longer you are in such cold water, the more delicate it becomes in terms of hypothermia.

Wolfgang Burock

Einsatzleiter Rotes Kreuz

Bild: Opris Dahlia

Water temperature only 12 degrees
It remains unclear whether the worker was injured in the boat accident or whether he was able to swim at all. What's more, he was probably in work gear. "The longer you're in such cold water, the trickier it gets when it comes to hypothermia," said incident commander Burock while the search operation was still ongoing. With an outside temperature of 13 degrees and a water temperature of around 12 degrees, it was a fight against time. 

Tragically, a boating accident happened very close by four years ago. A six-year-old lost her life near Gössendorf. She was out on a borrowed pedalo with her parents and sister (8) when it began to sink, presumably due to a leak. The eight-year-old was only just able to be rescued by her father and was resuscitated on the shore. The Afghan family could not swim.