Mountain rescuers lower two teenagers from Traunstein cliff

Mountain rescuers in Gmunden had to lower two teenagers from a rocky ledge at the foot of Traunstein mountain after they became stranded in steep terrain, ORF reported.

The 15- and 16-year-olds from the greater Linz area had spent the day swimming at Lake Traunsee. In the evening, they followed a dried-up stream bed uphill into the so-called Teufelsgraben until they could move neither forward nor back.

One of the teenagers called his father, who alerted mountain rescue. The father was still able to send the boys’ last location, but rescuers could not establish phone contact with them and had to search for them.

According to the rescuers, the teenagers were not cooperative. They did not respond to calls and even switched off their headlamps. They later insisted they would somehow make it back down themselves.

Instead, rescuers lowered them about 30 metres into the valley. Both teenagers escaped the ordeal uninjured.