As of: March 9, 2024, 8:50 p.m
By: Andreas Jäger
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A VW Beetle has been lying at the bottom of Lake Königssee for 60 years.
© YouTube/Thomas Amort (screenshot)
Since January 1964, a VW Beetle has been lying at the bottom of Lake Königssee, at a depth of around 140 meters.
The story behind the scary wreck describes a tragic accident.
Berchtesgaden – It was icy cold in Berchtesgadener Land in January 1964.
So icy that something that only happens once a decade on average happened: Lake Königssee was frozen over.
A thick layer of ice covered the water between the Watzmann and Hagengebirge.
This was a joy for walkers - quite a few took the opportunity to walk across the lake.
Berchtesgadener drove over frozen Königssee
But a 52-year-old from Berchtesgaden went one step further.
Although going is not the right expression, he was driving - in his VW Beetle.
The man's destination that January night was the settlement of St. Bartholomä, around the pilgrimage church of the same name, at the other end of the Königssee.
He wanted to visit his girlfriend there.
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Everything went smoothly on the way there, the 52-year-old reached the other bank safely.
But the girlfriend was probably not at home.
So the Berchtesgaden resident got back into his Beetle and chugged back across the lake towards home.
He passed a few people walking, as Stefan Schwarz, head of the Berchtesgaden police station, says: “He asked them if they wanted to get in and ride with them for a while.” But the two of them were probably not comfortable with that and said no.
You could almost think they had a feeling for what was about to happen.
Biologist took unique underwater photos
Because just a few meters further the car deviated from its path and slid into a part of the Königssee that was not frozen over.
And the terrible thing happened: the man from Berchtesgaden went under along with his VW Beetle.
The walkers, who were almost two kilometers behind the car at the time, had to witness the entire tragedy.
According to Schwarz, a rescue operation was launched later, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful.
In 1998, 34 years after the tragic accident, biologist Hans Fricke dived into the depths of the lake in his submarine.
He took unique video recordings of the VW Beetle, which
can now also be seen on
YouTube .
According to Schwarz, there were no attempts to recover the Beetle and its occupant.
“If it stays there, the environment is least endangered,” explains the head of the police station: because the low oxygen content on the lake bed keeps the car together.
If salvaged, the entire vehicle would probably fall apart.
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