INJURED MOUNTAIN CLIMBER RESCUEED IN THE PROTECTED AREA OF THE STRICT RESERVE “BIJELE AND SAMARSKE STIJENE”

In the afternoon of 30 April 2007, a mountain climber sustained injuries from a misfortunate fall in the barely passable terrain of the Strict Reserve.

The accident happened around 2:30 PM when the woman fell from the marked mountain trail that passes over steep and rocky terrain. After the accident was reported about 4:00 PM, a rescue operation was organised with the members of the Mountain Rescue Service stationed in Delnice, Rijeka and Ogulin.
As many as 30 MRS members participated in the rescue operation. Because the accident occurred in a protected area, Matko Škalamera, ranger of the Public Institution “Priroda” and MRS Rijeka member also joined the team. A medical team headed by a doctor reached the injured woman at 6:15
PM and established that she had sustained severe injuries from her fall down the rocky terrain. After her injuries were cared for, the injured hiker was carried on a stretcher along the hazardous trail to the MRS off-road vehicle. At 8:45 PM, under the doctor’s supervision, she was transferred
to the Sušak Clinical Hospital Centre where she was admitted at 10:15 PM. Because of the almost impassable terrain, the rescue operation took a fairly long time, lasting well into the night.

The lesson to be learned from this incident is that the Strict Reserve is an area under the strictest regime of protection into which practically no visitors should be allowed. Therefore, in the future, only a small portion of the existing mountain trails should be marked, while
access to the remaining trails, which have spread through the entire reserve due to a lack of management in the past, should be prohibited or allowed under supervision.