Two men got lost with a three-year-old in the Austrian Alps.
The hikers made an emergency call.
Then an extraordinary rescue operation started.
Ebensee - The weather was bad.
There was thick fog and rain.
During the descent, two brothers (32 and 23) from Germany got into dire straits.
On top of that, the 32-year-old had his little son (3) with him in a back carrier.
Austria: Men with boys (3) make an emergency call in the Alps
The three of them were on a hike in the area the day before. After breakfast they left the Riederhütte in the Höllengebirge (Austria) and wanted to descend towards the Feuerkogel cable car. Just a few meters away from the hut, the hikers chose the wrong turn and lost their orientation.
At around 12.30 p.m., one of the two brothers made an emergency call.
Thereupon the mountain rescue Ebensee and a helicopter of the flight police were alerted.
The helicopter crew was able to locate the two men and the child after a long search flight.
But the weather situation deteriorated increasingly.
Rescue by helicopter in thick fog and rain became impossible.
A team of mountain rescuers set out from the Riederhütte on their way.
The rescue team searched for two hours.
The brothers had climbed up with the three-year-old in the Great Grave Ditch (1450 meters).
Rescuer carries three-year-olds down from the mountain for six hours
Then the initially four rescuers began a "6-hour descent and abseiling marathon", announced the Ebensee mountain rescue service.
The little boy was carried by an alpine policeman while the mountain rescuers secured and abseiled the two brothers.
According to the mountain rescuers, visibility was at times less than 10 meters.
Navigation was only possible via GPS.
"It was clear to us that we would not bring the 3 down safely without the support of other emergency services," explains Operations Manager Erich Bart.
"We have alerted other rescue workers and alpine police so that they can insure a possible route through the grave with bolts and fixed ropes from the valley on the ascent."
The troop was on the move for six hours.
At around 9 p.m., the rescue team arrived in the valley with the hikers and the three-year-old.
21 rescue workers from the Ebensee mountain rescue service on Lake Traunsee, five officers from the alpine police and the crew of the police helicopter were involved in the rescue operation.
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