While playing football in Austria’s small mountains, a young man aged 20 fell to his death from 165 feet.
He was 20 years old and had hiked up to Predigtstuhl Mountain near Ebenthal, in southern Austria, with his friend. There they started to play football.
At an elevation of 820ft, the man was following a stray ball in their game. He slipped on the edge of the plateau.
The mountain side he fell on caused him to tumble 165ft across steep and rocky terrain.
The friend who saw the tragedy immediately dialed the emergency services. But the precarious mountain location meant that the victim’s body was not able to be pulled out for three hours.
He fell from a predigtstuhl plateau at 820ft and tumbled 165ft on steep terrain, to his death. (photo: Mountain rescue teams arrive at the accident scene.
A friend aged 20 and him had hiked together to Predigtstuhl Mountain near Ebenthal, in the Carinthia Region of southern Austria. There they started to play football. The man fell while chasing the ball, and then slipped from the edge of plateau.
After the accident, a group of rescue workers quickly responded to the call.
A mountain rescue team sent a helicopter out to assist the man but it was difficult to reach the area where the victim had fallen.
Mountain rescuers had to descend the rock face by themselves. This took them three hours.
It is unclear whether the man, who Kleine-Zeitung reported was a native of the nearby Klagenfurt district, died immediately after his fall, but the rescue team confirmed he was dead by the time they reached him.
Kurt Muller from the Klagenfurt Mountain rescue team said that it was an extremely difficult and mentally demanding task.
The helicopters were initially deployed as C11 mountain rescue helicopter and C11 police helicopter. However, Muller stated that it was impossible to land the helicopter on the rugged terrain.
Muller said that 23 members were involved in the rescue effort. Most of these men made their way down to the spot of the accident, securing themselves by ropes and scaling the sheer cliffs.
Carinthia, the region with the most southernmost borders of Austria, is where you will find the Eastern Alps mountain ranges.
This region is very popular with extreme sport enthusiasts because of its great skiing in winter and excellent hiking trails in summer.
Carinthia lies in Austria’s southernmost region and hosts the Eastern Alps Mountaineers (pictured: Falkert, Nockberge; Eastern Alps).