Two dead after rockfall in popular Austrian gorge

Two people died on Wednesday after a rockfall in the Baerenschuetzklamm, a spectacular mountain river gorge popular with hikers in the Austrian province of Styria, the provincial head of the mountain rescue service said. Seven people were injured, some of them seriously, Michael Miggitsch told Reuters.

Two people died on Wednesday after a rockfall in the Baerenschuetzklamm, a spectacular mountain river gorge popular with hikers in the Austrian province of Styria, the provincial head of the mountain rescue service said.

Seven people were injured, some of them seriously, Michael Miggitsch told Reuters. He said they had been together in a group but was unable to provide more details. The Baerenschuetzklamm, overlooked by towering limestone cliffs some 30 km (18 miles) north of the city of Graz, is one of the longest gorges in Austria and can only be reached on foot.

Hikers use more than 160 vertiginous wooden bridges and ladders and climb 2,500 rungs to traverse the 1,300 metre-long (1,400 yard-long) ravine, ascending 350 metres in the process. The rescue operation, which unfolded after the rockfall around noon, was difficult and still continuing in late afternoon, according to a member of the local fire brigade.

Rescuers and their equipment had to be roped down rock walls or climb for an hour to reach the scene of the accident. A canyoning rescue team searched the Mixnitz river, which runs along the gorge, supported by three helicopters, police said. Safety experts warned last year that there were too many visitors in the gorge.

The broadcaster ORF said the bridges and ladders were last cleaned and checked for safety last month.

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