Five Military Personnel Injured in Pyrenees Climbing Accident

Five members of the Spanish military were injured on April 15, 2026, following a climbing accident in the high Aragonese Pyrenees. The incident occurred at Peña Telera, located in the municipality of Piedrafita de Jaca in the province of Huesca.

The injured personnel are affiliated with the Military School of Mountain and Special Operations in Jaca. According to the Ministry of Defense, the group consisted of one instructor and four students, all men between the ages of 22 and 40, who were participating in the LXXXI Mountain Course.

Accident and Rescue Operation

The accident took place while the group was navigating the Gran Diagonal of Peña Telera. The Guardia Civil reported that the climbers were divided into two ropes—one consisting of three people and another of two—when a slip occurred, causing the personnel to fall.

Emergency services received the alert at 09:30 on April 15, 2026. Due to the severity of the situation, two rescue groups from the Guardia Civil’s Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (Greim), based in Panticosa and Jaca, were deployed alongside the Huesca Air Unit and a physician from the 061 emergency service.

Medical personnel provided initial treatment to the five men at the site of the crash. They were subsequently transported by aircraft to the Panticosa helipad, where they were transferred to a medicalized 112 helicopter for transport to various hospitals.

Two of the injured were taken to the Miguel Servet and Clínico hospitals in Zaragoza. The remaining three were transported to the Hospital San Jorge in Huesca, with one arriving via the Air Unit and two via ambulance.

Course and Terrain Details

The personnel were enrolled in a mountain course that began in September and lasts ten months. The program is designed to provide the skills and knowledge necessary for movement, survival, and combat in high-mountain environments and extreme cold climates. Training exercises for the course are conducted across the Aragonese, Navarrese, and Catalan Pyrenees, as well as in the Picos de Europa and Chamonix, France.

The accident occurred in the Gran Diagonal of Peña Telera, an area characterized by significant technical risk. The route is recognized as one of the longest and most difficult corridors in the Huesca Pyrenees, traversing the north face of the massif with a vertical drop of approximately 700 meters.

Authorities are currently investigating the causes of the fall.