In April 1954, 13 people from Heilbronn, ten students and three teachers, died in a blizzard while hiking the Dachstein Mountains in Upper Austria.
Expedition On April 15, 1954, during the Easter holiday, a group of ten students and four teachers led by 40-year-old Hans Seiler, a teacher described as having past mountaineering experience, set off on a hiking trip to Hoher Dachstein. Although the weather was "typical of an Austrian spring", there had been forecasted reports of snow and fog. Despite being warned by locals of these forecasts, Seiler brushed them off, and the group left for the trip in the morning. The only survivor of the group, teacher Hildegard Mattes, turned around after two hours. After failing to return, the group was reported as missing, and rescue efforts were initiated in the following days. The bodies of eight students and three teachers were found on April 24.
The victims are:
Willi Alfred Dengler, 16 years old, student Herbert Adolf Kurz, 15 years old, student Peter Lehnen, 15 years old, student Peter Eberhard Mössner, 16 years old, student Rolf Richard Mössner, 14 years old, student Roland Georg Josef Rauschmaier, 15 years old, student Karl-Heinz Rienecker, 16 years old, student Hans Werner Rupp, 24 years old, teacher Hans Georg Seiler, 40 years old, teacher (in some sources spelled: Sailer) Kurt Seitz, 14 years old, student Dieter Steck, 16 years old, student Klaus Josef Strobel, 15 years old, student Christa Doris Vollmer, 24 years old, teacher
Photographs of the group during their expedition had been taken by one of the students, 16-year-old Dieter Steck, whose camera was found by his body.
See also English calamity List of mountaineering disasters by death toll
References