The award was presented to the HGSS and other rescue organisations involved in the operation at a ceremony held in the Hofburg in Vienna, the HGSS said in a statement earlier this week.
Caver Johann Westhauser was trapped for 11 days at a depth of 1,148 metres in the Riesending-Schachthohle cave system, on Mount Untersberg in the Berchtesgaden Alps, after suffering a head injury from a rockfall. He was safely brought back to the surface by a team of rescuers from Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Croatia.