Avalanche drama: 71-year-old discovered under snow masses

The 71-year-old was buried by an avalanche on Saturday in the Tyrolean Karwendel Mountains in the municipality of Vomp, Schwaz district. After the search proved very difficult due to the bad weather conditions, the German was not recovered dead until Thursday. An autopsy has been ordered.

The search for the man was called off due to the danger of avalanches and was not resumed for days due to the ongoing situation. Further details were not initially known.

The pensioner (71) had already set off from the Binsalm into the valley on Saturday as part of a 27-person group – despite the bad weather in the Tyrolean Karwendel Mountains. On the way down, an avalanche suddenly broke out. The German was caught in the snow masses.

The 71-year-old did not have any avalanche equipment with him. However, the Tyrolean police helicopter was able to receive a signal using so-called Recco technology that could indicate the area where the victim was located.

Search proved difficult

The search for the man was already extremely dangerous at the weekend. A local mountain rescuer was partially buried and injured by a subsequent avalanche. A helicopter was used again on Sunday to search for the missing man.

Due to the acute danger of avalanches, this operation also had to be aborted. At the beginning of the week, the situation on site was also classified as too dangerous to continue searching for the victim.