Victims now in Tyrol – Ukraine: “Krone” on board rescue mission

In the morning, dark gray clouds covered the sky over a city in eastern Ukraine with a population of nearly 17,000 in Sumy Oblast.

An icy cold wind whistled through the still smoldering ruins, and there was also a pungent smell of burning over this apocalyptic scenario. On March 14, 2022, Ukraine had been at war for 19 days, a war so close to us that far surpasses much of what we can and want to imagine in terms of brutality and brutality. March 14 became a day of suffering and fate for many people we did not know.

One of them is Maksym, 33, who says in a broken, low voice: “The center of my hometown was hit by a number of rockets during the night from Sunday to Monday. So I wanted to see as soon as possible if friends of mine were spared. stayed and set out on foot.” But Maksym didn’t get far, the last thought that came to his mind, before an all-consuming darkness invaded him graciously grabbed her arms : “The explosion you hear lets you live!”

Mine explosion knocked him out
Maksym survived the anti-personnel mine and amputated almost his entire left leg during two emergency surgeries. Both bones of the lower leg of the right leg were destroyed by projectiles, as well as the forearm bones of the right arm. The blast wave from the explosion also ruptured both eardrums.

Contribution “Krone” led to this rescue mission
As the “Tiroler Krone” reported, the Samaritan Association of Tyrol, together with “Kitz-Ambulance” and the intensive care physician Viktor Stöllnberger, is providing rapid air assistance to victims of the war in Ukraine.

A Viennese man married to a Ukrainian is reading this article. “Maksym’s best friend started a call for help that reached my wife and me. I finally came across the ‘Krone’ article and contact with Mr. Gerhard Czappek of the Tyrolean Samaritan Association was quickly established. All in all, not an easy undertaking that many nerves and it took time, but in the end everything turned out okay and the laborious transport could begin”, according to the “Krone” reader.

The Eurocopter “EC 145-C2” of the “Kitz-Ambulance” stationed in Erpfendorf with its experienced pilot Florian Weber was able to meet this challenge. Specifically, according to doctor Viktor Stöllnberger, up to two war victims could be treated in one flight in intensive care and safely transported to a hospital outside Ukraine if land transport would be nearly impossible.

War victims collected in Slovakia
“We were surprised that because of the article, an investigation into a private sector evacuation flight was launched so quickly,” said Gerhard Czappek, director of the Tyrolean Samaritan Association, adding: “Because it is not possible to fly to a belligerent country, it was clear that the rescue mission would take us to Slovakia to professionally collect the seriously wounded war victim.”

Necessary operations take place in Austria
With the support of the Slovak partner rescue organization ASSR, Maksym was arrested at the Ukrainian border early last week. While being transported in the ambulance towards Slovakia, the Eurocopter departed from Erpfendorf with Robert Lauf of the Tyrolean Samaritan Association, doctor Viktor Stöllnberger and the “Krone” on board. After a flight of about three hours, with a refueling stop halfway through, the Tyrolean rescue team reached their destination, Košice Airport.

Organized perfectly in advance, the ASSR ambulance drove across the airfield as soon as the Eurocopter landed. Maksym, whose face beamed with joy, was then placed on the medically prepared intensive care patient bed and transported to the spacious interior of the Eurocopter, where he was immediately connected to the necessary monitoring equipment by Doctor Stöllnberger. The flight back to Tyrol was a bit more turbulent than the outward flight.

When asked about this, Maksym said with a laugh, “I lay so well in this special bed – as I used to in my mother’s feather bed.” The young Ukrainian is now receiving the necessary further post-operative treatment in Austria and will then undergo rehabilitation so that he can return to a normal life in the future, even though it is now designed with a prosthetic leg.