Mudslide Hits Line Bus in Stanzertal: Passengers Freed by Firefighters
Flirsch/Pettneu am Arlberg, 29 June 2026
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Summary
After a severe storm with heavy rain and hail on Sunday in the district of Landeck in Tyrol, a mudslide came down onto a state road and hit a line bus between Flirsch and Pettneu am Arlberg. The driver and passengers – including a 14-year-old girl – could only be freed from the vehicle with the help of the fire department.
Flirsch/Pettneu am Arlberg, 29 June 2026
A heavy mudslide on Sunday afternoon in the district of Landeck in Tyrol hit a line bus between Flirsch and Pettneu am Arlberg; the occupants had to be freed by the fire department.
Operation in the Stanzertal
A heavy mudslide on Sunday afternoon in the district of Landeck in Tyrol hit a line bus between Flirsch and the Pettneu hamlet of Schnann. According to the Schnann fire department, the bus carried a driver, a woman, a man, and a 14-year-old girl. The occupants "nicht mehr alleine herausgekommen" and could only be freed by the firefighters, the brigade wrote on Facebook. The mudslide had buried the road for a length of 80 meters at a depth of one to one-and-a-half meters, it said.
The Landeck district fire inspector spoke of a delicate situation: „Es war eine heikle Situation", he said. The online edition of the „Tiroler Tageszeitung" also reported on the incident on the state road in the Stanzertal. Exactly how the mudslide occurred and whether the occupants were injured is not clear from the available reports.
Weather Situation: Warning Level "Orange" in Tyrol
The mudslides were triggered by a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail that moved across parts of Tyrol on Sunday. The state of Tyrol had previously issued a thunderstorm and heavy rain warning at level "Orange", the second-highest level, from Sunday at 12:00 noon until midnight. The warning applied to the entire federal state.
In the municipality of Flirsch, a mudslide buried the L68 Stanzertalstraße in the area of the Rammelbach. The B171 Tiroler Straße in the municipality of Zams was also affected by mudslides in the Finais area, but remained at least passable in one lane and was expected to be fully cleared during the course of the day.
Further Affected Roads in the District of Landeck
In the Kaunertal, three mudslides came down onto the Kaunertal Glacier Road on Sunday afternoon after the thunderstorm. The road was buried, and in places washed away, over a length of around 50 meters in the "Am See" and "Am Versetz" areas. The Glacier Road has been closed since then; cleanup was underway, and the duration of the closure was still unclear in the evening.
Kaunertal's mayor Christian Kalsberger said in the evening to the APA that the work would "gut vorangehen". However, speaking to ORF Tirol, the local chief noted that – after consultation with experts – one could say that the road "so wie sie momentan geführt wird, nicht mehr sicher ist". First, they had to make sure whether it was passable at all.
Kaunertal: 250 Guests Evacuated by Helicopter
On Monday, around 250 day-trippers trapped in the rear Kaunertal were flown out by helicopter. As the Ministry of Defense announced in a press release, the Austrian Armed Forces deployed one AB212 helicopter and one AW169. Two police helicopters were also in operation.
Two mudslides also came down on the Pitztalstraße (L16) in the municipality of St. Leonhard im Pitztal on Monday. As the state of Tyrol announced in a press release, the affected areas were Bichlbach and Hairlachbach. The state road is buried, undermined, or partially completely broken away over a length of around 500 meters.
Pitztalstraße Buried Over 500 Meters
The L16 had to be closed to all traffic between the localities of Hairlach and Eggenstall – the duration of the closure was not foreseeable on Monday. This makes the Pitztalstraße currently the most severely affected state road in the region.
The consequences of the storm were not limited to Tyrol: Fire departments in Upper Austria were also in continuous operation in the evening. In the state alone, 194 operations were recorded in three and a half hours. The district of Vöcklabruck was particularly hard hit, where from around 8:00 p.m. emergency services had to deploy at minute intervals to flooded basements, toppled trees, and other storm damage.
In Vöcklabruck, nearly 70 liters of rain per square meter fell, in Linz around 40 liters. In addition, there were storm gusts of up to 100 km/h. „Ohne diese zusätzlichen Feuerwehren wäre die große Anzahl der Einsätze nicht zu bewältigen gewesen", a spokesperson told ORF.
Upper Austria Also Affected With 194 Operations
In the district of Landeck, cleanup work continued on Monday. While the Pitztalstraße remained completely closed and the Kaunertal Glacier Road could only be cleared gradually, traffic on the B171 Tiroler Straße continued at least on a limited basis. The L68 Stanzertalstraße in the Rammelbach area was also affected by a mudslide.
The fire departments called on residents and passersby to avoid the closed road sections and follow the instructions of the emergency services. In the Stanzertal, the situation around the bus stops was also being looked at closely after a line bus had been hit by the masses of mud there the previous day.
Damage to roads and infrastructure can likely only be quantified after a full assessment, according to the authorities. Mayor Kalsberger referred to the ongoing coordination with experts before a decision is made on the future of the Glacier Road.
Overall, the incident illustrates the weather situation in Tyrol: a heat wave and heavy rain are currently colliding in several districts, resulting in mudslides and flooding. For the coming days, the authorities announced further inspections and safety measures at the vulnerable road sections.
Assessment and Outlook
For travelers and locals in the district of Landeck, the only advice for now remains: avoid closed road sections, follow current traffic reports, and alert emergency services in case of emergency.
The bus accident in the Stanzertal also brings the question of protective measures along heavily used state roads into focus. Residents had pointed out on social networks the particular danger from mudslides after heavy rain – a point the authorities now want to take into account in their situation assessment.
Questions & Answers
What happened between Flirsch and Pettneu am Arlberg?
After a storm on Sunday afternoon in the district of Landeck, a mudslide came down onto a state road and hit a line bus. The driver and passengers, including a 14-year-old girl, had to be freed from the vehicle by the Schnann fire department.
Why couldn't the line bus be exited on its own?
According to the Schnann fire department, the occupants "nicht mehr alleine herausgekommen". Only the emergency services could free the people, as the mudslide had buried the road for 80 meters at a depth of one to one-and-a-half meters.
Which roads in Tyrol were closed after the storm?
The L16 Pitztalstraße in St. Leonhard im Pitztal was buried over around 500 meters and completely closed between Hairlach and Eggenstall. The Kaunertal Glacier Road was also buried over around 50 meters, and the L68 Stanzertalstraße and parts of the B171 Tiroler Straße were also affected.
Mudslide Hits Line Bus in Stanzertal – Tyrol After Severe | allfacts360
