Severe weather in the mountains claims one victim: One tourist caught up by low temperatures in Fagaras dies

The two had been saved by the mountain rescuers and taken to hospital on Monday night.

“The man has been brought in very critical condition, with severe hypothermia and in cardiac arrest. CPR procedures have been made, but despite the doctors’ efforts, the young man could not be saved, and his death was pronounced around 1 a.m. The woman has frostbites, she is stable and conscious. For the moment she is under medical surveillance”, said the spokesperson of the Sibiu County Hospital.

The head of the Sibiu Mountain Rescue Service said that no one could have predicted the weather would take such an extreme and violent turn and that the two tourists had not apparently taken the weather alerts into account, or had not access to the warnings, as it is not known for how many days they had been on the mountain. “We cannot say his equipment was not in compliance, but he did not understand the weather alerts that required a winter equipment, nobody would have thought the weather would have such a scale,” Sabin Cornoiu told Digi 24, adding that wind and humidity amplified the cold sensation.

According to some information, the young man was dressed with long trousers and long-sleeved shirt.

Temperatures at Balea Lac drop below zero to minus 5C on Monday and it snowed. The snow pack has mounted to 10 cm in some areas.

Other nine tourists have asked for the mountain rescuers’ intervention the other night after they had got stuck and slept in their cars on Transalpina mountain road. Fortunately, they didn’t need the doctors’ intervention.