VIENNA, Austria: A 37-year-old man in Austria, Thomas Plamberger, has been handed a five-month suspended sentence for gross negligence resulting in his girlfriend’s death during a climb on the country’s highest mountain, German Press Agency (dpa) reported, citing a ruling by a judge.
In January 2025, the couple set off together to climb the peak of the Grossglockner mountain.
After midnight, the 33-year-old woman, Kerstin Gurtner, froze to death alone in bad weather just below the 3,798-metre summit.
Prosecutors had charged Plamberger with grossly negligent homicide, alleging that he made a series of serious mistakes. He had pleaded not guilty.
According to data from the Austrian Alpine Safety Board, around 8,400 accidents occur on average in the Austrian mountains each year, resulting in almost 300 deaths.
Many of the fatalities are due to cardiovascular disease or falls. Deaths from frostbite or exhaustion appear extremely rarely in the statistics. – BERNAMA-dpa
