Karl Wurzer, public prosecutor at the St. Pölten Regional Court, died last week while hiking in Styria. The Amstettner is likely to have slipped on the descent in the Gesäuse and fell over rocky terrain into the depths. The 47-year-old amateur athlete leaves behind a wife and three children.
There is currently sadness and bewilderment after the sudden death of Karl Wurzer from Amstetten. As has only now become known, the public prosecutor at the St. Pölten regional court died in a hiking accident on the national holiday in Styria. The 47-year-old enthusiastic amateur athlete set out on a tour of the Hochtor in Gesäuse on his own. While still on the summit, beaming with joy, he sent a short video to his family. When he did not return home that evening, his wife called the rescue workers.
Search operation with helicopters
A major search was started immediately. 34 mountain rescuers including search dogs, alpine police and police helicopters were on duty for hours. In the morning, the body of the missing person was finally discovered from the air from the helicopter in the rocky terrain. “We assume that the man slipped. A misstep here can have dire consequences, ”said a spokesman for the Styrian State Police Directorate for the“ Krone ”. Wurzer should have crashed around 200 meters.
Appreciated and popular
“The news hits us hard. Karl was more than a colleague. We will miss him sorely, ”said Leopold Bien, public prosecutor at the St. Pölten Regional Court. The shock is also deep in Wurzer’s home community.