The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Hikers rescued off Swiss mountain thanks to Israeli alert

chopper
© Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

A group of nine hikers were evacuated by Swiss rescue helicopters after using their satellite phone to alert a call centre in Israel. 

They were helicoptered from the Corona di Redòrta mountain in Ticino in southern Switzerland on Friday evening. The young adults were surprised by bad weather and a drop in temperature.

The nine people, originally from Israel, sounded the alarm using a satellite emergency call device, the Swiss rescue organisation Rega shared on Saturday. Their call for help was passed on to an emergency call centre in Israel, which then contacted Rega’s Operations Centre.

+ Mountain accidents in Switzerland: the figures

An initial search flight by the Rega crew from Locarno in Ticino was unsuccessful. However, one of the hikers was able to send a photo to the rescue organisation, which enabled the exact location of the group to be determined.

With the help of two specialists from Swiss Alpine Rescue and an additional helicopter from Eliticino Tarmac, the hikers were finally transported to the valley. They were unharmed, but in a state of hypothermia.
 

Popular Stories

News

Gösgen NPP outage darkens profit prospects for Axpo and Alpiq

More

Swiss Politics

Outage extended at Swiss nuclear plant

This content was published on The Gösgen nuclear power plant in northwestern Switzerland will be out of service for six months. It has not been connected to the grid since late May.

Read more: Outage extended at Swiss nuclear plant

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR