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20. 01. 09. - 16:00

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20. 01. 09. - 16:00

Ice-skating an unlikely danger sport

Ice skating injuries are soaring - with 4,500 skaters hospitalised so far this winter.

The Committee for Traffic Safety (KfV) said today (Tues) 4,500 ice-skaters had been injured badly enough to need hospital treatment in 2007 in Austria. Every second injured person was younger than 15 years of age, KfV added.

KfV said wrist injuries had accounted for a quarter of all skating injuries and head injuries for 15 per cent of the total. KfV advised everyone, especially children, to wear helmets while ice-skating.

KfV added few ice-skaters had broken through the ice and fallen into cold water. Some deaths had occurred in such cases, KfV noted, adding it was imperative for skaters to find out how thick the ice was where they would be skating before putting on their skates.

Skaters also needed to bear in mind there was always some danger involved in ice-skating on natural ice, KfV added, regardless of its reported thickness.

A recent incident in Burgenland shows the wisdom of KfV’s advice.

On 6 January, Purbach firemen saved the life of a 58-year-old Slovak ice-skater who had fallen through the ice.

The incident occurred near Purbach in Eisenstadt-Umgebung District while the man was ice-skating on Neusiedler Lake in an area near the New Canal.

Firemen pulled the man out of the water and took him to the town’s fire station. An ambulance crew then covered the man with blankets and gave him special assistance.

The Christophorus 3 rescue helicopter transported the man, suffering from severe hypothermia, to a hospital in Wiener Neustadt.

Austrian Times

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