Alpine rescuers scrambled two helicopters and 50 extraction experts to extract the 99 schoolchildren from a mountainside in Vorarlberg, Austria, in heavy rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dozens of terrified schoolchildren were airlifted from a mountain hiking trail after their teacher chose a route that had been removed from official tourist guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alpine rescuers from Vorarlberg, Austria, scrambled two helicopters and 50 extraction experts to extract the 99 children from a flooded mountainside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furious officials are now blaming the adults who were accompanying the children for misinterpreting advice on the dangerous path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the trail is so dangerous that it has been removed from official tourist guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the students, aged 12 to 14, and eight adults became trapped on the Alpine track in Hirschegg, near the Austrian-German border, a teacher called the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The horrified group leader realized that the exhausted children could neither go forward nor return to their hotel in the valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two students had already been injured when they fell over on the slick and rocky trail, and police later stated that many of the children were not wearing appropriate hiking footwear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Klaus Drexel, spokesman for the Vorarlberg Mountain Rescue Association, stated that his team’s access to two helicopters for the rescue was simply a lucky break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was later revealed that the route was chosen by the teacher in charge of organizing the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Naively trusting what you read somewhere online can get you into unpleasant situations,” Drexel warned later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged tourists who are unsure about hiking trails to seek advice from the local tourism office or alpine associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massive rescue involved more than 50 mountain rescuers, firefighters, and medical personnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alpine rescuers scrambled two helicopters and 50 extraction experts to extract the 99 schoolchildren from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1367],"class_list":["post-18347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","tag-hiking"],"yoast_head":"\n