After the death of two girls during the storm a week ago, the public prosecutor’s office in St. Andrä is investigating – there are not always those responsible.
The misfortune of St. Andrä will never be forgotten. Two little girls, Christina and Eva, were killed by a tree during the devastating storm. On Wednesday, two broken families had to say goodbye to their beloved girls and carry them to their graves. Child killed by branch in Mauthner Gorge But it is not the first time that a child in Carinthia has fallen victim to a force of nature. Exactly three years ago, in August 2019, a branch fell 80 meters in the Mauthner Gorge near Kötschach and killed a four-year-old vacationing girl who was on a vacation trip with her parents. The sadness is and remains immeasurable. But can someone be held responsible for such catastrophes? “It’s difficult,” explains Markus Kitz from the Klagenfurt public prosecutor’s office. “Because there must be concrete omissions. In such cases, however, we usually investigate because of negligent homicide. Even the municipality, as the waykeeper, would not have been able to be expected to constantly check the trees for safety. The accident was therefore classified by the public prosecutor’s office as an “unforeseeable natural event”. It is still unclear whether this also applies to the most recent drama from Lavanttal. “A tree expert checked the condition of the roots and branches.” This is intended to assess whether the cruel death of the children could have been prevented. “The expertise is not yet available, the investigations are ongoing,” says Kitz. The lido in St. Andrä will also remain closed, as the clean-up work is time-consuming (you can find current information online).
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