A Rockwell Commander 112B registered in Germany crashed in Grünau in Almtal, Upper Austria. The four occupants died.
The single-engine private aircraft, registered as D-ELPO, was en route from Pribram (Czech Republic) to Medulin (Croatia). In the mountainous area that belongs to the municipality of Grünau im Almtal, the machine crashed for reasons that are still unclear. Air accident investigators have already started their work, but no results are yet available.
There was heavy snowfall in this region at the time of the accident. It is still completely unclear whether this had a significant influence on the fatal crash or not. The accident investigation is still in its early stages. In any case, rescue workers carried out a large-scale search operation to find the wreckage in the remote area.
According to the Upper Austria State Police Directorate, there were first indications on Saturday, November 25, 2023 around 12:00 p.m. that a plane could have crashed in the said mountainous area. Emergency services are said to have set off immediately. At this point, the exact scene of the accident was not yet known, but an initial guess was made based on radio and radar data.
Police and rescue helicopters were also used to assist in the search. However, due to the heavy snowfall and the resulting limited visibility, the rescue and search attempts were complicated. At around 13:30 p.m. the first pieces of wreckage were found near the Sepp Huber Hut on Kasberg.
It was initially unclear how many people were on board and whether they might have survived the crash. Later, helpers were only able to determine the deaths of four people, whose nationality was not disclosed.