Red Cross rescue service prepares for busy summer at Trolltunga
The stream of tourist heading to Trolltunga is reaching new heights. This increases the workload for local rescue workers, who were called out again on Tuesday.
According to the Norwegian National Inspectorate, between 80,000 and 90,000 tourists visited Trolltunga last year. This year, it’s expected that the figure will reach 100,000.
The Red Cross Relief Corps in Tyssedal have already been out on several rescue missions.
‘We’ve had six different missions this year alone, and it’s still quite early in the season. The worst months are July, August and September’, said the head of Tyssedal Red Cross Rescue Corps, Knut Atle Øyre, to NTB news agency.
He says that the most common problem is that people become depleted of resources, ‘empty’, and need help.
poorly dressed, under prepared
‘They are poorly prepared, badly dressed, with inappropriate footwear, and they carry too little food and nutrition. And they don’t eat enough during the trip either’, he said.
Last Tuesday evening, there was a new emergency call-out to Trolltunga after the police were told that a foreign group of five people had gone adrift north of the ‘steinformasjonen’, according to NRK news.
‘The group consisted of four women, and one man. Everyone was in good shape, but they were wet and cold. They probably took the wrong path on their way to Trolltunga and ended up well north of the usual route,’ said Bjarte Rebnord of the Western Police District.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today