The 31-year-old Czech was part of a ten-member boating group that set out on the mountain river Steyr on Friday. After crossing the Stromboding waterfall, it took several minutes before he was rescued from the rapids. An ambulance pulled him wounded on a rope and took him to the hospital in Kirchdorf.
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According to the Upper Austrian police, a ten-member group of young Czechs and Slovaks rode in five two-seater inflatable canoes. There was a lot of water in the river at that time after heavy rains. Shortly before the waterfall, the group intended to disembark and move the boats along the shore, but the two canoes overturned. Three paddlers managed to reach the rocky shore, but the fourth was dragged into a waterfall. A rescue service was called by passers-by.
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In an effort to help a friend, six other members of the group found themselves in need. However, they got ashore on their own. The group did not have a guide, but its members had the appropriate equipment, including vests and helmets.
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Austrian rescuers also provided assistance to the Czechs at the same place last June. Even in this case, the crew of the two-seater canoe failed to dismount in time and was pulled into a waterfall. The accident went unnoticed at the time – the 32-year-old man managed to catch rocks at the last moment in the middle of the riverbed, while his one-year-old boating partner swam safely ashore.
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