“It caught us all completely unexpectedly. There was no warning, nothing,” says a local, completely shocked. He means the tragedy in the district of Wolfsberg: In the leisure center St. Andrä has a short but enormous heavy thunderstorm storm gusts uprooted several trees on Thursday around 3.30 p.m. The consequences are fatal: According to Waltraud Dullnigg, spokeswoman for the Carinthian State Police Headquarters, and the Red Cross, two local girls aged four and eight were killed and 13 people were injured, some seriously, reported district captain Georg Fejan. Including five other children. The storm had lasted maybe ten minutes, and only a few seconds that gust that knocked down trees. In the entire local area of St. Andrä and also in the leisure facility at the small bathing lake.
The rescue workers were on site with a large contingent. According to spokeswoman Melanie Reiter, the Red Cross had all available forces deployed. Including two emergency medical vehicles, nine ambulances and two helicopters. A district alarm was raised. The Lavanttal forces were supported by colleagues from Völkermarkt, Klagenfurt and St. Veit. A large contingent of police and fire brigade was also at the scene of the accident. 45 paramedics were on duty, as were 71 members of the water rescue service, the police and five fire brigades, who freed two people who were trapped under trees.
The press conference of the emergency services on site:
Search operation in the lake
All water rescue services from the Lavanttal to Pörtschach had also arrived on site. Divers searched the water because clothing was found that might not be assigned to anyone on site. After an anxious hour, however, the all-clear might be given. No one was found in the lake.
“The situation in the leisure facility is dramatic. There are trees everywhere, people are shocked and desperate,” says a Lavanttal resident. Similarly, Wolfsberg’s Mayor Hannes Primus: “Bitter hours. The greater Wolfsberg area resembles a battlefield following the violent storm,” he writes on Facebook.
Federal President Alexander van der Bellen also spoke on Facebook: “It is an immeasurable tragedy that two children died in the storms. That affects me deeply. My thoughts are with the families and friends of the children.”
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