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Swiss air rescue kept busy during 2022

Rega helicopter
Rega and Switzerland's two other air rescue services were in demand in 2022. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Switzerland’s three air rescue services were called out a record number of times last year as warm weather encouraged people to visit the mountains.

Official figures for Rega rescues have yet to be announced, but a spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency that helicopters and aircraft were called out at least 20,000 times in 2022.

This figure easily surpasses the previous record 12,000 rescues Rega carried out in 2021.

Rega flew more than 2,000 operations in July alone to rescue injured people, the service said on Tuesday.

Air Zermatt declared 2022 as its busiest year since its inception in 1968, with some 2,100 missions beating the previous high of 2019 by 200 rescues.

Airborne paramedics were called out 82 times between December 24 last year and January 2. Its busiest day was December 28.

Air Glaciers also recorded an abnormally high number of missions. The rescue service usually averages around 2,500 flights per year but 2022 saw around 3,264 operations.

All services were kept busy during the ski season but also throughought the rest of the year as hikers and climbers took to the mountains.

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