Drunk guide leaves 60 hikers stranded after abandoning them in Austrian Alps

Guide later found to have descended by himself and could not explain his disappearance

The hikers became stranded in the treacherous Rax mountain range when their guide vanished (Getty)

A group of hikers in the Austrian Alps had to be rescued after their local guide allegedly got drunk and wandered off by himself.

Emergency services were called to Rax Mountain to lead 60 Hungarian tourists to safety following their leader's disappearance, as bad weather set in.

One of the men in the group called in distress when he and his daughter got lost, reportedly claiming their accompanying guide had been drinking since the group set off at 3pm on Saturday.

When they were brought back down the mountain by 12 mountain rescuers, the guide was found to have descended on his own and did not explain his disappearance.

He did however claim he was not drunk and had not had any alcohol during the trip. The man did not have to face the breathalyser as no one was hurt during the incident, police said.

Gerhard Rieglthalner, a mountaineering expert working with Austrian police, told Kronen Zeitung: “The man was unprofessional and he was not a trained mountain guide.”

On the same day and in a separate incident in Austria, a helicopter was called to rescue a 53-year-old German woman who had become stranded on a mountain in Styria and collapsed from exhaustion.

She had undertaken an 11-hour hike with her husband through the region but complained of feeling weak when the couple were an hour from their destination.

The unnamed woman was brought to a local hospital and treated for severe fatigue.