After the deadly end of a canyoning tour in the Starzlachklamm in Oberallgäu, the public prosecutor’s office has now initiated official investigations against four tour guides. In two cases it is about the allegation of negligent homicide. According to the police press release, the 32-year-old woman and the 49-year-old man were caring for the group to which the 27-year-old victim belonged. Two other guides who looked after another canyoning group on the Saturday in question were also being investigated for negligent bodily harm – a 31-year-old from this group was seriously injured and is still in the hospital.
Rain turned the Starzlach into a raging river
Heavy rain on Saturday afternoon in Oberallgäu: The Starzlach then swelled so quickly and severely that a young woman and two men who were on guided canyoning tours through the Starzlachklamm were swept away by the floods. The two 31- and 49-year-old men were found and rescued by emergency services on Saturday. Because of the onset of darkness, the search for the woman had to be stopped. Her lifeless body was found in the gorge on Sunday morning.
Public prosecutors have to clarify many open questions
Many questions arise for the public prosecutor who is now investigating: What exactly happened on site, did the tour guides react correctly in the situation, did the guides and the organizer correctly assess the weather conditions and were they even able to do this based on the information available? In addition, it is currently still unclear whether and how the tour guides were trained for their task. In principle, there are no regulations for this in Germany. However, a number of Allgäu providers have voluntarily committed themselves to employing only qualified personnel.
Was the storm predictable?
The responsible control center of the fire brigade in Kempten explained that they had not received any advance warning about heavy rain and therefore did not pass on a warning via apps like Katwarn. However, the German Weather Service issued a severe weather warning for the Sonthofen area. But according to experts, it is extremely difficult to locate such relatively small weather cells precisely in the mountains. If it had rained so heavily just a few kilometers away, you would hardly have noticed it on the Starzlach. In the event of heavy rain like on Saturday, however, even seemingly harmless mountain streams quickly turn into torrential rivers – in this case with fatal consequences.
Extraordinary use for the mountain rescue service
The on-call manager of the Sonthofen mountain rescue service, Bernd Zehetleitner, described the use in the Starzlachklamm as extraordinary in the BR interview. His teams are repeatedly called to the gorge for minor assistance, but an operation like last Saturday is also challenging for the experienced mountain rescue teams. It rained briefly but heavily, and there were also many people from various canyoning groups in the gorge, some of whom were injured or even missing.
Canyoning: serious accidents again and again
The Starzlach Gorge in Oberallgäu is considered a hotspot for canyoning: adventurous tours through a gorge with abseiling, climbing, jumping, sliding and swimming. Several organizers offer guided tours there. On Saturday afternoon, around 60 to 70 people should have been on or in the gorge, said a police spokesman. There are now two canyoning officers in the alpine task force of the police headquarters in Kempten. Serious accidents happen again and again in canyoning. The worst accident happened in 1999 in the Bernese Oberland: 21 people were killed when the Saxetbach near Interlaken suddenly swelled after a summer thunderstorm and took a canyoning group with it.