By Daily Mail (World News) | Created at 2026-08-13 16:30:17 | Updated at 2026-08-13 17:25:00
1 hour ago
Alpine rescue services had to save 36 people, including nine Britons and three Americans, after they got lost on a precarious route.
Mountain rescue crews were initially called at around 5.15pm on Sunday following reports that up to 15 people had gotten lost on a hike down from the Wildspitz chairlift mountain station in Sölden, Austria.
Minutes later an additional call came in, reporting that more people were lost in the area, including an injured amateur hiker.
Multiple helicopters were scrambled to search the area. Mountaineers found 36 people wandering aimlessly around the highland.
The group was made up of three families. In total, 17 Belgians, nine Britons, seven Austrians and three Americans, had to be rescued.
Among their number were two babies, whose parents were pushing them in prams on a path that local media described as 'completely unsuitable for strollers.'
Jakob Fiegl, operations manager of the Sölden mountain rescue service, told Kronen Zeitung that some members of the group were just 'half a metre' (18in) away from a sheer drop, adding: 'There was even a stroller in the area where falls were imminent.'
The group were found at an elevation of around 2,300m (7,545ft), though Fiegl said they had separated by the time choppers came to rescue them: 'They were, in some cases, separated by as much as 200 meters in altitude.'
Mountain rescue crews were initially called at around 5.15pm on Sunday following reports that up to 15 people had gotten lost on a hike
Multiple helicopters were scrambled to search the area
Rescuers were able to take 22 people down the mountain by foot or emergency vehicle
He said they had intended to hike back down to the nearby Ötztal valley, but took a trail going the wrong way.
Helicopters took 14 people down, with many of them needing to be lifted up with ropes.
One photo shared by mountaineers appeared to show two rescuers assisting a young boy, who had a bright green rope tied around his torso.
Rescuer Stephan Kuen said he had to dramatically rescue two boys from a steep gulley.
He said: 'I built a belay station and then secured one of the boys, who was dangerously close to a rock slab. Then I rappelled us down to the boy's brother, from where we were airlifted out.'
The boys' father had to watch the rescue with bated breath from a point higher up, where he was with other family members - including a toddler.
All of them were airlifted down.
Meanwhile, rescuers were able to take the remaining 22 people down on foot or in emergency road vehicles.
Fiegl said the rescue was perilous, and could have ended in tragedy: 'This story could have ended very differently; the rescue was touch and go.'
He said he could not recall a rescue operation with as many people as this one, adding that he found it baffling that the amateur hikers chose a route entirely unsuitable for prams.
