Husband Dead, His Wife Critically Injured After the Pair Fell Over 200 Ft. Off a Cliff While Sledding

A husband is dead and his wife is in a critical condition after falling over 200 feet off a cliff while sledding in Austria.

The 63-year-old man and his 58-year-old wife were sledding down the Rabantalm mountain in East Tyrol when they skidded off the path and plunged down a rocky, wooded slope on Thursday, Jan. 1, according to local outlets Die Presse, Kronen Zeitung and Kleine Zeitung.

“In this area, the terrain drops off steeply and after a few [feet] transitions into an almost vertical, approximately 82-feet-high rock face,” a spokesperson for Tyrol Police said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “The couple fell about 82 feet down the rock face and then another 164 feet down a roughly 55-degree slope in the woods, which was lightly covered with snow.”

“The husband suffered fatal injuries in the fall, and his wife sustained critical injuries,” said police. “Sledders coming up the mountain noticed the fresh toboggan track extending beyond the edge of the road, heard screams, and called for help.”

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First aid was performed by the Austrian couple’s daughter and son-in-law, both 23, who had also been on the trip. However, an emergency physician soon pronounced the 63-year-old man dead, per Die Presse.

The Lienz mountain rescue team recovered his body following an accident investigation.

The police were assisted by 22 members of the Lienz mountain rescue team at the scene.

The man’s wife was airlifted to the Lienz District Hospital before being transferred to the Klagenfurt Regional Hospital due to the severity of her injuries, police confirmed to PEOPLE.

The couple’s family is being supported by a crisis intervention team. 

PEOPLE has contacted the police in Tyrol for comment.

The incident comes a month after a man was charged for allegedly leaving his girlfriend to freeze to death on Austria’s highest peak.

The 33-year-old woman and her boyfriend began climbing Grossglockner mountain on Jan. 18, 2025. Having become stuck at around 165 feet from the summit, rescuers attempted to contact the 39-year-old man — though Austrian prosecutors allege he had turned his phone off.

When the man set off to find help, he allegedly did not wrap his girlfriend in aluminum emergency blankets or help to shield her from sub-freezing temperatures.

“The defendant left his girlfriend unprotected, exhausted, hypothermic and disoriented about 50 meters [160 feet] below the summit cross of the Grossglockner. The woman froze to death,” prosecutors alleged on Dec. 4, announcing that the man would be charged with grossly negligent manslaughter.