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The school group had to be rescued from mountain distress on June 8th in Kleinwalsertal (helicopter photo by the police)
Photo:
State Police Headquarters Vorarlberg / dpa
Rescuing a large group of German schoolchildren in the Austrian Alps could prove expensive.
A spokesman for the Vorarlberg mountain rescue service confirmed to the APA news agency on Tuesday that the bill would probably be around 18,000 euros – that was a “good estimate”.
The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) had previously reported on it.
The invoice will now be sent to the school in Ludwigshafen.
There must then be clarified internally who pays for the sum.
For the rescue of the 99 students and their eight accompanying persons from a narrow ridge that is slippery after rain, several items would have to be booked: three hours of flight by the police helicopter, one and a half hours of flight by an emergency doctor helicopter and the use of mountain rescuers.
Two weeks ago, the students, aged 12 to 14, and their teachers ran a route that was too difficult for their equipment and skills in Kleinwalsertal, Austria.
The teachers had chosen them based on misleading information on the Internet.
The path turned out to be far more risky than described.
About 70 members of the group were rescued from the helicopters using ropes, while the others descended, accompanied by mountain rescuers.
Two students were slightly injured.
czl/dpa