Haredi hikers stranded in the Alps and billed 30,000 euros for rescue

The sight of Haredim hiking in nature and needing rescue during the summer vacation period is not foreign to those who follow news reports in the Israeli media, as well as to civilian and military rescue units.

The phenomenon is, of course, not unique only to Haredim, but the "Bein HaZmanim" period, when many Haredim use the vacation to tour the country, is already known to rescue units in Israel as a time when every few days they will be scrambled to rescue Haredim following poor planning of hiking trails on their part, or a lack of equipment that would help them hike safely.

But what happens when a Haredi family of 36 people hikes in the Alps of Austria, without careful planning of the hiking trails and equipping themselves with everything required to go up and down safely? Well, here the story is already different from the one in Israel and it turns out to be much more expensive.

About a week and a half ago, three Haredi families decided to go up the Alps together. According to a report on the German news site schwaebische, the three families, which included citizens from the USA, Belgium, and the UK, decided to go up together to the high Alps in the Sölden area in Tyrol. Some of the family members went up to the mountainous area together with baby strollers, including two babies, while alongside them were several teenagers and a number of adults. According to the report, the family members pushed the baby strollers up the winding paths, while from time to time the families strayed from the marked paths and found themselves in "difficult and dangerous terrain".

At some stage, when the family was at an altitude of about 2,325 meters, the group struggled to cope with the complex challenges of the area where they were hiking, until the situation became so critical that two members of the group called an emergency center to help them rescue themselves from the changing weather and the natural hazards and dangers involved in staying on the mountains without suitable clothing and equipment.

Upon receiving the distress calls from the Haredi families, rescue operations began to be organized, which included scrambling rescue helicopters and crew members who assisted the group that was in distress. The police described the area in retrospect as "exposed alpine" while a police spokesperson stated later that the group "had no equipment" that could help the group members cope with the challenges of the complex terrain. 14 out of the 36 hikers were rescued from the high alpine terrain by two rescue helicopters, four of them using ropes. Among those who were flown to the valley by helicopter were apparently small children in their strollers. The remaining 22 hikers were rescued on foot by the regional mountain rescue team safely and unharmed.

However, it now turns out that the complex rescue is going to cost the rescued dearly. According to Franz-Josef Fiegl, head of the Sölden mountain rescue service, the mountain rescue operation is expected to cost about 3,500 euros. He explained to the media outlet "Tiroler Tageszeitung" that "since it is a large operation that lasted almost three hours, the hourly rate is 1,244 euros".

But the story only starts here since two rescue helicopters were scrambled to the scene. Roy Knaus, operator of the rescue helicopter Martin 8, estimated in an interview with the news channel "Rosenheim 24" that the cost of one helicopter's operation is about 15,000 euros. That is, the cost for the mountain rescue service and this helicopter alone amounts to about 18,500 euros. The cost of the second helicopter is additional so the final total bill is not yet known, but it can easily move to over 30,000 euros.

It is unclear whether the rescued families had the appropriate insurance that would take on the high costs, but the Tyrol mountain rescue service issued a statement following the incident in which it "reiterates that mountain rescue operations can involve costs".