He wanted to rescue a children’s soccer ball from the Danube. In the end, a 51-year-old man had to be rescued himself. Stefan Dirisamer and Peter Strasser were in the right place at the right time: Shortly after 9 p.m., when the two police officers were driving their service boat near the Brucknerhaus, the man jumped into the Danube between the railway bridge and the motorway bridge, near the Blau-Weiß stadium. The current was so strong that after a few seconds he was carried away towards the bridge pillars. 20 to 30 meters from the bank. “A very dangerous place,” says water police officer Dirisamer. “The masses of water there form a whirlpool that doesn’t let you go and sucks you down to the bottom.”
Quiet cries for help
Fortunately, he and his colleague were there immediately. The man – a Romanian living in Linz – was already completely weakened. He was only quietly screaming for help and was barely moving, says Dirisamer. To prevent the man from being pushed further under water by the strong suction, they first threw him a lifebuoy and a swimming line and then pulled him onto the police boat.
The 51-year-old was struggling with breathing problems and was shaking all over. The Danube is icy cold, with a water temperature of around 15 degrees. “He was very shaky and complained of chest pains.” On the way to the winter harbor, where rescue was already waiting, the man reported how he had gotten into this emergency.
“It was a huge stroke of luck”
Children were playing football on the Danube bank. When the ball fell into the water, the 51-year-old jumped after it with good intentions. But the plan to save the ball turned into a life-saving one. “Ultimately, it was a huge stroke of luck for everyone that nothing worse happened,” says Dirisamer. The current is particularly strong right now.
After receiving initial treatment, the severely hypothermic man was taken to the Order Hospital in Linz. The water police officers were able to continue their night shift – knowing that they had saved a life.
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Source: Nachrichten
