Incredible operation

Drunken German rescued from narrow gap

The fire department first tried to reach the German from the roof, who was stuck in the gap, which was only 30 centimetres wide (right).(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

Why the young man squeezed himself into a narrow gap of just 30 (!) centimeters between two buildings in the Ötztal tourism hotspot of Sölden on Saturday night, he could no longer say. The Sölden fire department had to use all their skills to rescue the 20-year-old boy.

In the winter sports mecca of Sölden, where alcohol is banned outdoors from December 1st, several young guests had apparently "stepped on the gas" again on Friday evening. As one of the group did not return to his accommodation that night, his friends used a cell phone app to search for him.

Desperate calls for help
And they did indeed find him - in the area of buildings at the start of Sölden. The team went there and heard desperate calls from the missing man. No joke: he was stuck in a narrow gap of around 30 centimetres several meters deep between a garage and a carport. They raised the alarm at around 3.15 am.

The Sölden fire department arrived with 13 men and three vehicles. On arrival, even the experienced commander Philipp Fender was amazed by the situation. Time was of the essence, as the temperature was almost ten below zero and the panicked German was only wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

The Sölden fire department was deployed with various technical aids and several vehicles. The German had somehow squeezed himself between the two buildings.(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

Rescue from the roof impossible
"We first tried to get to the guy from the roof, because he had mistakenly told us that he had climbed into the gap from above," Philipp Fender explains in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. The emergency services tried to climb into the gap from above by removing a gutter or metal sheets. Fender: "But it was completely impossible."

The Florianis therefore launched a sort of "internal attack" on the 20-year-old, who was lying on the ground on his side after falling into the gap: the emergency services cut open the side wooden wall of the carport. "This was actually primarily intended as an emergency measure to enable the emergency doctor on site to intervene," says Fender. 

The emergency services quickly cut a hole in the cladding of the carport. The concrete wall of the garage can be seen behind it. The young man was trapped between the concrete wall and the wooden cladding for hours in the freezing cold.(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

The emergency services then reached deep into their bag of tricks. Using a rope system, they tried to get the victim back into a vertical position. The attempt was unsuccessful, the German's body had become too wedged between the wooden and concrete walls. Nothing "worked".

Finally, a particularly "wiry" and intrepid firefighter ventured into the gap himself from the outside. Just as the German had apparently done. However, it was his undoing that the gap continuously narrowed as it progressed.

The fire department first tried to reach the German from the roof, who was stuck in the gap, which was only 30 centimetres wide (right).(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

Firefighter got through to the victim
After a few meters, the firefighter actually reached the victim. Again using a rope system, he managed to pull the German a few centimetres towards "freedom". There was just enough space for him to pull himself upright again. "Somehow he then managed to get out into the open almost on his own with the support of our comrade," explains Commander Fender. The operation lasted two and a half hours.

Victim hypothermic, but almost unharmed
Miraculously, the young man appeared to be hypothermic, but almost uninjured. On the outside, only scratches bore witness to the "b'soffen" story. Nevertheless, the ambulance took him to hospital in Zams as a precaution.

"We are familiar with drunken incidents. But I've never experienced anything like this," Philipp Fender shakes his head in disbelief. "This is a memorable moment in my firefighting career." He was unable to explain to his rescuers why the German was looking for this extraordinary "adventure".

I've never experienced anything like this before. This mission is a memorable moment in my 20-year firefighting career.

Philipp Fender, Kommandant Feuerwehr Sölden

Bild: ZOOM Tirol

Mountain rescue also deployed for drunks
Speaking of drunks: On the same night, Sölden Mountain Rescue also had to respond to a call-out for an alcoholic. The man had fallen drunk into the bed of the Ötztaler Ache stream in the local area. The mountain rescuers roped up to the hypothermic man and rescued him. The rescue team then took care of the casualty.