Lightning strike on the Rax severely injures two Hungarian hikers

Due to the force of the lightning strike, one of the men was thrown around 30 meters of altitude toward the valley and lay injured. His companion also sustained injuries but was still able to make an emergency call shortly before 2 p.m. "Beide Männer waren bei Bewusstsein, wiesen jedoch Erinnerungslücken auf, wie die Polizei berichtet."

Injuries and emergency call

"Ersten Informationen zufolge erlitt einer der Wanderer durch den Blitzschlag Verbrennungen zweiten Grades im Bereich des Oberkörpers sowie mehrere Abschürfungen." The second man was found to have lighter burns as well as an injury to his right ankle. "Selbstständig ins Tal absteigen konnten beide nicht mehr."

Since the poor weather conditions initially made a helicopter operation impossible, the alpine rescue personnel triggered an area alarm. "Rund 30 Bergretterinnen und Bergretter der Stationen Mürzzuschlag und Neuberg an der Mürz sowie Kräfte der Alpinpolizei stiegen bei widrigsten Wetterbedingungen über die Karreralm zu den Verletzten auf."

Rescue operation in adverse weather

"Nach medizinischer Erstversorgung vor Ort transportierten sie die Männer mit zwei Tragen über den 'Schlangenweg' bis in die Nähe des Waxriegelhauses, wo ein Notarzt und weitere Rettungskräfte übernahmen." Around 30 alpine rescue personnel from mountain rescue and the alpine police had to rescue the injured men from the mountain in the most adverse weather conditions.

After an improvement in the weather, the more severely injured man was flown by the Christophorus 3 rescue helicopter to the Vienna General Hospital (AKH). The second hiker was taken by the Red Cross to the LKH Hochsteiermark in Leoben. This ended an operation that challenged the rescue personnel for several hours in storm and heavy rain.

Transport to the hospitals

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon; the police released the details on the following Monday. Both men were receiving inpatient treatment after the recovery; further details about their state of health were initially not published.