Three Tourists, Including One From Belarus, Were Rescued In The Austrian Alps
- 18.08.2026, 15:20
They were stranded on the mountain at night without flashlights.
In Austria, three Vienna residents—originally from Belarus, Russia, and Poland—had to be evacuated by helicopter from the 1,691-meter-high Traunstein mountain. The group did not manage to descend before dark; none of them had a headlamp, and one of the women was already at the end of her strength, according to ORF.
Last Sunday, August 17, three hikers set out for Traunstein near the town of Gmunden. By about 8:30 p.m., they were already descending the mountain, but they were moving very slowly—it took the group more than three hours just to cover the first 400 meters of the descent.
By that point, one of the hikers (it is not specified who) was already practically exhausted.
The onset of darkness posed an additional problem: the hikers did not have headlamps. In addition, a thunderstorm was approaching, so there was less and less time left for a safe descent.
The hikers contacted the mountain rescue service on their own. At first, they wanted to continue on foot, but they doubted they had enough strength to do so. Moreover, the rescuers explained that in that case, the hike down to the valley would take another four to five hours.
Seventeen members of the mountain rescue service and an alpine police officer set out to meet the group, and a medical helicopter was also called in, just in case.
In the end, the rescuers decided to evacuate all three by air. Around 10:00 p.m., the tourists were hoisted aboard the helicopter using a winch and transported to the valley.
The rescuers themselves completed their descent at approximately 11:15 p.m.
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