[Eternally Solo]

Accident Occurred: 23 Sept 1999
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Translation: It happened on the border between Spain and France, two firefighters rolled 70 meters when they let go of a cable from a helicopter while they simulated a rescue on a mountain. As we are seeing, their bodies hit against the rocks and both suffered multiple fractures, (spine injuries and severe head trauma).
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LAST UPDATE: 05 Nov 1999

After a month of investigations, the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia) has concluded the report on the causes that caused the serious accident suffered by two firefighters from the Aran Valley when they were carrying out a mountain rescue simulation on September 23.

In the report it is proven that the helicopter pilot was never responsible for the accident since at all times he followed what was marked in the action protocol designed for these rescues and released the cable that linked the two firefighters with the helicopter "when the situation of weather instability made it necessary and without him having time to realize that the two people were no longer subject to the wall."

In the opinion of the deputy investigation inspector of the fire brigade of the Generalitat, Bienvenido Aguado, the second that elapsed between the pilot's decision to release the cable and the notice he received from the person in charge of the lathe of the position of the two firefighters is a critical moment that can never be avoided due to many precautions that are taken, "even in this event".

For this reason, he assured that the only thing that can be done is to carry out the maximum number of possible practices that allow to reduce the few seconds it takes to perform the anchorage operation to the helicopter and thus reduce the risk.

For their part, the two firefighters who were injured in the drill, Josep Maria Cau and Benjamín Yáñez, have already been discharged and will soon be incorporated into the Bossòst and Les parks.

After having stayed for several weeks at the ICU, the head of the Bossòst fire station, Josep Maria Cau, said that he had reviewed the images of the events because the memories he has of the accident are not very clear.

"I only saw that we were rising a few meters above the ground and a few seconds later we were hitting the first rock. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital four days later."

Despite the seriousness of the accident, the two firefighters expressed their desire to rejoin the work to make new rescues.

"This is a risk that is always taken in this type of activity," Cau said, while admitting: "As people we are, I suppose that at the moment we pick up the cable again, our memories will return, but surely the desire with which we do this work will be stronger than those feelings."

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Here is the video in slow-motion:

[SavageGlow]

Damn! Talk about a bumpy ride!

[Eternally Solo]

Originally Posted by Kimmie ↗

Damn! Talk about a bumpy ride!

It's amazing that they both survived!

[kellyhound]

Small miracle as these rocks are hard.

[houseoftechno]

Damn that was two roughly 40' drops onto 20-degree rubble surfaces.

[wildaxboxer]

An old classic that one, always worthy of another look..

[Ferocity]

Luckily they were wearing helmets