Cell phone battery was empty: 18-year-old triggers large search operation in the Mittenwald mountains

Created: 04/24/2022Updated: 04/24/2022 18:07

By: Josef Hornsteiner

Mountain rescue forces and the police were looking for the missing 18-year-old.

© symbol photo

Because his cell phone battery was empty, an 18-year-old vacationer unknowingly triggered a large search operation in the mountains of Mittenwald.

Meanwhile, the man from the Rehbergalm made his way to his holiday home on Walchensee on foot - 25 kilometers away.

Mittenwald/Walchensee

– A search for a missing vacationer ended happily: an 18-year-old man from Lichtenstein (Baden-Württemberg) was reported missing by his mother on Saturday evening.

But in the middle of the night he turned up healthy and sound at the holiday apartment on Walchensee - after walking 25 kilometers from the Mittenwalder Rehbergalm to the accommodation.

In the morning he announced to his mother that he was going on a mountain tour in the direction of the Steinkarkopf.

After the last telephone contact at 4:30 p.m., there was no sign of life from the 18-year-old.

When he didn't show up at the agreed meeting point at 7:30 p.m., the mother suspected a mountain accident and informed the control center.

20 comrades from the Mittenwald Mountain Rescue Service, the Alpine Police Task Force, a helicopter and several officers from the Mittenwald Police Inspectorate started a large-scale search operation.

Ultimately, the following happened: the 18-year-old had not reached his original destination due to the snow conditions and was already on the descent at 3:50 p.m.

Arriving at the Rehbergalm, he had no cell phone battery left and no power source to charge it.

That's why he couldn't make contact with his mother.

So he simply walked from the Rehbergalm down into the valley and finally to the accommodation at Walchensee.