Nine people have died in the last three days in Austria, mainly in the Tyrol region where around a hundred avalanches have been recorded.
Five Swedes dead
On Friday, the emergency services had reported five deaths in the same group, without giving details. The police have since clarified that they were Swedes in their forties who went off-piste with a mountain guide in the Ischgl ski area, on the border with Switzerland.
The monitor and four of the men who were with him were carried 350 meters and completely buried. Only the fifth survived: he was able to warn a friend on the phone and was evacuated by helicopter.
On the same day, a 60-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife who were ski touring died in the municipality of Auffach, according to another statement from the Tyrol police.
The next day, a 58-year-old Austrian was killed in Schirmn, not far from Innsbruck. He was accompanied by four other people who were injured.
Another fatal accident occurred on Friday in the far west of Austria, in Vorarlberg, claiming the life of a 43-year-old veteran skier. His friends were able to locate him and call the emergency services, but the doctor was unable to revive him.
Avalanches due to heavy snowfall
Rescuers have had to intervene on an exceptional number of avalanches since Friday, due to heavy snowfall. One of them engulfed five winter sports enthusiasts on a slope in the famous resort of Sölden, but all of them could be saved.
“Over the past three days, there have been around 100 avalanche-type incidents, requiring 70 interventions”, an “unprecedented” figure, Tyrol authorities said on Sunday, warning of a high “danger” which should persist in the coming days. In recent years, avalanches have killed an average of twenty people a year in Austria.
A hiker who also died in Switzerland
In neighboring Switzerland, a 68-year-old Italian hiker died in the canton of Valais on Saturday, while his companions were quickly rescued, police said. The Swiss meteorological services had called before the weekend to be “careful, careful, careful”, stating that people had been affected by 45 avalanches this winter in this country.
On Thursday, such massive snowfalls left one dead and several injured in the Swiss region of Graubünden, adjoining Tyrol.