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Rescue helicopter in Bavaria (2021): People in the Alps are always putting themselves in danger
Photo: ActionPictures / IMAGO
In Bavaria, significantly more alpinists died in their hobby in the past six months than in the same period last year.
This was announced by Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann and Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (both CSU) during a rescue exercise on the Jennerbahn am Königssee.
According to this, 30 people died in southern Upper Bavaria during the period.
Last year there were 19.
A development is apparently continuing: the number of deaths in the region concerned had already reached a peak value of 55 throughout 2021 – it was the highest level since records began in 2009. “Don’t overestimate yourself, find out more and take You are serious about the dangers in the Alps,” warned Interior Minister Herrmann.
He recalled the "SOS-EU-Alp" app, which can be used to quickly alert rescuers.
»It is important to assess yourself correctly«
"In 2021, more people died in the mountains in the Berchtesgadener Land district than on the road," said Minister of Justice Eisenreich.
The prerequisite for tours is the right equipment and good preparation with the right choice of route.
"It is important to assess yourself correctly." More and more hobby mountaineers are relying on expensive equipment and apps, the minister warned.
It was only in June that more than 100 schoolchildren and teachers from the Ludwigshafen area who had got into mountain trouble had to be rescued in the Austrian Kleinwalsertal.
The teachers had chosen a route from the Internet that was too difficult for the group's equipment and skills, and the route turned out to be far more risky.
The mountain rescuers billed the students for around 18,000 euros for their work.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate ultimately paid for the sum.
fek/bbr/dpa/AFP
