Rescuers free German mountaineer trapped under rock in glacier crevasse

Rescuers freed a 69-year-old German mountaineer from a glacier crevasse in a difficult operation on Monday afternoon, ORF reported. He had been pinned by a rock slab weighing between 250 and 300 kilograms.

The man had been descending from the 3,498-metre Pfaffenschneide in the Stubai Alps with two companions at about 3 p.m. When he fell on the Sulzenauferner glacier south of the 3,366-metre Pfaffenkogel, he slid eight metres downhill before falling into a two-metre-deep crevasse.

The fall dislodged the rock slab, which slid into the crevasse and trapped his left lower leg. Mountain rescuers, firefighters, an emergency helicopter crew and alpine police officers lifted the slab using a pulley system and hydraulic rescue equipment.

The man suffered abrasions to his head and an injury to his lower leg. He was flown to Hall Hospital. His two uninjured companions were taken by police helicopter to the Hildesheim Hut.

The operation involved 17 members of the Neustift mountain rescue service, 20 members of the Neustift volunteer fire brigade, an alpine police officer, a police helicopter and an emergency medical helicopter.