Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A Swiss army helicopter with forward-looking infrared technology (Flir) assisted in the rescue of an injured woman hiker near Disentis, canton Graubuenden, early Tuesday 8 September. The Super Puma army helicopter was called in after rescuers from the Swiss airborne rescue corps Rega and Swiss Alpine Club (CAS) were unable to visually locate her late the previous night, according to the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).
GenevaLunch spoke to Christian Trottman of Rega, who said that the alarm was given by the woman herself, a German who was out hiking alone, by cell phone late afternoon, 7 September.
By nightfall, with temperatures dropping, Rega officials decided to ask for Swiss army assistance.
The army helicopter crew located the woman at about 1,100 metres at 04:15 with Flir, which uses thermal energy generated by the body against a cold background to create an image. They winched her into the helicopter. She was flown to Disentis, where she was handed over to a Rega crew.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 8 September 2009.
Filed under: Society
Tags: CAS, DDPS, Disentis, Flir technology, forward-looking infrared technology, Graubuenden, Rega, Super Puma helicopter, Swiss Alpine Club
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