About the book

On 10th June 1997, Slovenia and the rest of the world were shocked by the most tragic accident in the history of mountain rescue. Five excellent mountain rescuers died in a helicopter training session over Okrešelj: Mitja Brajnik, Luka Karničar, Dr. Jani Kokalj, Rado Markič and Boris Mlekuž. The book Tragedija v Turski gori is dedicated to their memory and the demanding mission of the Slovenian mountain rescuers. We are taken into the world of mountain rescue by honest and shocking accounts and reflections of the involved, the witnesses and others affected by the accident. Their stories are supplemented by rich photographic material that shows the dramatic events before, during and after the accident. The author of the book is chief Iztok Tomazin, an alpinist, a Himalayan climber, a mountain guide, a writer, but above all a mountain rescuer, one of the most active and experienced doctors of the Mountain Rescue Association of Slovenia. Among the 40 co-creators of the book are mountain rescuers, doctors, members of the helicopter crew and family members of the perished. From the review by Tomo Virk: Tragedija v Turski gori most certainly stays in the reader’s heart as a compassionate memory of the perished rescuers’ shocking fate and as an opportunity for an insight into the work, risk, sacrifice, fears, doubts, contemplations and elementary experience of mountain rescuers. Tomazin is the author of many books that offer a dramatically suspenseful, but also literary established and spiritually deep read. He continuously equally complements his own views with the views of the involved in the tragedy. The book stays despite of his obvious personal affliction soberly balanced all through, which is the reason it touches the reader even more genuinely; shedding light on the tragedy from various sides gives the reader the feeling of seeing it with his own eyes, as if he was himself a witness. The portraits of the five self-sacrificing rescuers, their senseless deaths, their families’ pain and loss – all these flow out of the book as if the Turska gora tragedy happened only yesterday. The helicopter pilot: “A powerful force dragged us into the depth and close to the wall. At first, I reacted instinctively. I resisted the threat to the helicopter and all us seven in it with the only weapon I had – the power of both engines. I was rescuing the helicopter and the people inside it. I did not know what was happening below us, what was pulling us down so hard, and I could not see from my position ...” Keeper of the mountain cabin, an eye-witness: “My heart still hurts when I think of this horrible scene that I will never forget.” Ex-chief of one of the GRZS stations: “The Turska gora tragedy was a national catastrophe.” Member of the helicopter crew: “Even now, after ten years, I still think of ‘Okrešelj’ every single day. As if it happened yesterday ...” Author of the book: “Time converts pain into a deep trace, it slowly melts away its burning sharpness and it even ennobles it in a way. Noble, just like memories of the departed are.” Mountain rescue doctor: “When I hang over a precipice during a rescue action, I carry my whole family in my heavy backpack.” Author of the book: “Every life mission is a great opportunity that makes our life sensible. Once we accept it and start living it fully, it is difficult to let go of it. The same goes for mountain rescue. When the heart sings with the feeling that you have been given a chance to help someone in need, that you have contributed a small piece or an important part to this person’s rescue, recovery, maybe even survival, that is an experience that marks you again and again. It awakens, preserves and enriches your being, however secret and full of everyday sullenness, worries, disappointments, resentments, maybe even oppositions, hate and other rubbish, conquering and overcoming of which make one of our basic aims whether we admit it or not. Our essence that is fundamentally good.”