02:16

Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Galtür

2008-08-18

Sylvia Manning - Baumgartner

Nicole D´Incecco

1999

It goes very fast. It just takes a fraction of a second. I myself experienced it at the hut. That's why I think it was fate. It was fate that it happened in Galtür. It was fate that nothing happened to me and the plumber and the three guests who were at our hut. I can only describe it like this: It felt as if in a fraction of a second all the windows and doors were opened, the wind whistled and then the shock wave arrived and abruptly my ears popped. Then I couldn't hear anything anymore, it is difficult to describe ? but I guess after 3 seconds everything was silent. It was all over. I know nothing which is hit by a powder avalanche ? people or buildings ? stands a chance of surviving. It just ? goes too fast. This knowledge helps later on because you can say: "I hope they didn't have to suffer", "I hope they didn't experience it consciously!" But I know, I'm convinced, that my mother and my wife didn't experience any of it. I'm convinced of that... It happened so fast, it is ? You really can't imagine it if you weren't there. It happen so fast, if you're sitting on a chair there's no time to get up off the chair because everything is already over. I'm sure that sounds quite harsh but it's the truth. That's the way it is.