In a strange operation, mountain rescuers in Sölden, Tyrol, rescued a drunken holidaymaker (40) from the Ötztaler Ache on Wednesday evening. The drunk man had changed direction after visiting a pub and fell into the river.
So far, the Sölden mountain rescue service cannot complain about a lack of work in 2024. Of course, the team around the local branch manager Franz Josef Fiegl will not soon forget mission number 29 – not because of a special challenge, but because of the circumstances.
Alarm clock shortly before midnight
On Tuesday at exactly 11:57 p.m., the alarm was received by the mountain rescuers from Sölder via the Tyrolean control center. “One person was in the streambed of the Ötztaler Ache and could not get out,” says operations manager Maximilian Riml. The accident victim was of course not somewhere in a remote area, but near the village center in the Ache.
“The man himself had raised the alarm. When we arrived on the scene, there was already a police patrol,” says Riml. “The victim was crouched on a stone in the stream bed under the road.” The 40-year-old German holidaymaker waited there for rescue.
Only suffered abrasions
The emergency services then pulled the man by a rope about ten meters onto the main road. Fortunately, he only suffered abrasions.
“Suddenly there was an end to the sidewalk,” the visibly drunk holidaymaker looked for a double explanation for his fall. “The man was on his way home from a bar in the city center to his accommodation, but drove in the wrong direction on the village road,” said mountain rescuer Riml. Then he crossed the street and ended up in the stream – because the sidewalk had just ended. “He was unable to get back up the rocky embankment under his own power.”
“Service” transport home
The 40-year-old didn’t even need to see a doctor. Therefore, the mountain rescuers from Sölder brought him back to his place of residence – as a kind of “service” – so to speak.
Source: Krone
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