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Swede survives 70 metre fall in Austrian Alps

The Local Austria
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Swede survives 70 metre fall in Austrian Alps

A Swedish woman has been flown to hospital with serious injuries after she slipped and fell while hill walking in the Austrian Alps.

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According to the newssite Salzburg 24, the Swede plunged about 70 metres down the hillside after she slipped on a narrow road in steep terrain. Her fall was stopped by a boulder.

The Bad Gastein mountain rescue was called out on Tuesday shortly before 2pm after they were told a mountaineer had fallen, although strong winds delayed the rescue operation.

“At first the search started in the wrong area. Research carried out by police established pretty quickly, however, that the Swedish woman had fallen in the Palfnerscharte area,” the head of the local mountain rescue branch Roland Pfund told Salzburg 24.

A team of 20 mountain rescuers from Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein were flown to a spot near the crash site. After reaching the woman they carried her to a nearby mountain station, from where she was taken to hospital by helicopter.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry told the TT newswire that they had no information about the accident.

It is not the first large falling incident in the Austrian Alps this year. A 38-year-old climber incredibly survived an 800-metre fall in May after he lost his footing on the Hoher Sonnblick mountain on the border between the states of Carinthia and Salzburg.

He received serious injuries to his face and legs but a helicopter rescue team was quickly on the scene to airlift the man to hospital.

Mountain rescuer Robert Silbergasser told the ORF at the time that strong winds had made the flight difficult.

“And if you saw the site of the fall, then you could believe in a thousand guardian angels. It is almost a miracle. We are very happy that the man survived,” he said.

It is not the first large falling incident in the Austrian Alps this year. A 38-year-old climber incredibly survived an 800-metre fall in May after he lost his footing on the Hoher Sonnblick mountain on the border between the states of Carinthia and Salzburg.

He received serious injuries to his face and legs but a helicopter rescue team was quickly on the scene to airlift the man to hospital.

Mountain rescuer Robert Silbergasser told the ORF at the time that strong winds had made the flight difficult.

“And if you saw the site of the fall, then you could believe in a thousand guardian angels. It is almost a miracle. We are very happy that the man survived,” he said.

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