bad luck
Avalanche in Austria: two dead and two missing
A sign warns of the danger of avalanches in a ski resort in the Alps. photo
© Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
According to information from the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”, two winter sports enthusiasts died in the avalanche in the Ötztal Alps. Two other people are still missing, the Sölden mountain rescue service told the APA news agency. Official information from the police was not yet available.
It was originally assumed that 18 people might be affected. However, this was ultimately not confirmed. There were a total of 17 winter sports enthusiasts in the area, but most were not caught by the masses of snow. According to the mountain rescue team, the winter sports enthusiasts were a ski touring group.
The work had to be temporarily interrupted in order to blow away the threatening masses of snow on the edges of the slope, it was said. The avalanche occurred on the route to the Martin-Busch-Hütte, located at 2,501 meters above sea level in the Ötztal Alps. There had been a lot of fresh snow in the mountains of Tyrol in the past few days. Helicopter crews, mountain rescuers, dog squads and alpine police were in the accident area.