Dresden (dpa/sn) – After the record year 2021, the ADAC air rescuers flew more missions again last year: the three helicopters stationed in Saxony took off for 4544 missions in 2022. The ADAC announced this on Thursday. That was 489 more missions than in the previous year. In 2021, the mark of 4000 missions was broken for the first time.
The ADAC cited increasing mobility after the end of the corona restrictions, regional overloading of the rescue service on the ground and a lack of emergency doctors as the reason for the record. In many regions, the rescue helicopter is often the only means of rescue available in an emergency.
According to ADAC, 3,740 operational targets were in Saxony, 635 in Saxony-Anhalt, 142 in Thuringia, 4 in Brandenburg and 23 in Bavaria. The number one reason for deployment was cardiovascular emergencies, followed by injuries after accidents. Almost every tenth patient was a child or adolescent.
Nationwide, the number of ADAC helicopter missions rose to 55,675, 3,441 missions more than in 2021 (7 percent). Serious accidents and heart attacks or heart problems are usually the reason for the alarm. ADAC operates more than 50 rescue helicopters at 37 stations in Germany.