Two Vietnamese mountaineers rescued on Switzerland’s Matterhorn
VOV.VN - Air Zermatt, a Swiss mountain helicopter service provider, announced on its homepage on September 24 that its rescue team have successfully saved two Vietnamese climbers who had become stranded on the Matterhorn.
At 7:00 a.m. on September 23 (local time), the rescuers from Zermatt received an emergency call reporting that two Vietnamese mountaineers were in distress on the Matterhorn. They were said to have fallen into a life-threatening situation.
Due to the extreme weather conditions, neither a rescue by air nor by land was possible.
After several hours, three rescue specialists from the Zermatt rescue station managed to reach the site at an altitude of 3,500m and found the two Vietnamese climbers in distress.
According to Air Zermatt, the mountaineers were only equipped with light half-shoes and thin training pants, and they were severely hypothermic.
As bad weather hampered aviation support, the rescue specialists therefore had to abseil down to the injured alpinists and then bring them back up to the normal route, making use of a rope hoist.
They eventually breathed a sigh of relief upon returning to the winter camp at the Hörnlihütte, a starting point for Matterhorn hikers and climbers from all over the world.
Due to the volatile weather conditions, they stayed there until 2 a.m. of the following day before a helicopter brought them safely down to the valley in two flights.
After medical check-ups by Air Zermatt’s doctors, the Vietnamese mountaineers successfully returned home in stable health condition.
