Toboggan ride ends in tragedy as husband dies and wife is critically injured when they take a wrong turn and plunge 250ft off vertical cliff in Austria
A man died and his wife was seriously injured when she took a wrong turn while sledding in the Austrian Alps and fell 250 meters from a cliff.
The couple were sledding down the Rabantalm mountain in East Tyrol on New Year’s Day with their daughter and her partner when, after turning a corner, they suddenly veered off the edge of the vertical slope.
A 63-year-old Austrian man died at the scene, while his 58-year-old wife was seriously injured.
Sledders climbing the mountain called emergency services when they noticed the new toboggan run extending beyond the edge of the hillside and heard screams from below.
The woman was first flown to the Lienz Regional Hospital, but was later transferred to the Klagenfurt Regional Hospital due to the severity of her injuries. Her husband’s body was recovered by the Lienz Mountain Rescue team.
The crisis intervention team responded to the couple’s relatives at the scene of the accident.
The tragedy is the latest to hit the Alps region last month after a 24-year-old British skier died after falling 900ft down a steep off-piste slope in the French Alps.
The Briton, whose name has not been released, is understood to have been among a group of skiers who went off-piste at Les Arcs 2000 in the French ski resort of Savoie.
A man died and his wife was seriously injured when she took a wrong turn while sledding in the Austrian Alps and fell down a 250-foot mountain (stock image)
Two members of the group attempted to ski down a steep hill, but one of them lost his footing and spiraled out of control down the slope before crashing into a rocky outcrop.
Other skiers were alerted and two ski patrollers rushed to his aid, where he was found unconscious with a heart attack.
An air ambulance was sent from Courchevel and reached the victim approximately half an hour after the initial alert.
A doctor and two police rescue workers attempted to resuscitate the man but tragically he was pronounced dead.
The resort said: ‘We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family and friends.’
The second skier was stranded at the top of the track, unable to move.
He was later rescued by a police helicopter.
According to The Times, the deadly slope was wide at the top but narrowed downwards before ending at the ridge covered with a small amount of hard snow, increasing the risk of accidents.
Resort managers urged skiers to avoid steep off-piste slopes when the snow is hard.
