Switzerland
Avalanche near Zermatt: At least three missing
Spontaneous avalanches at altitude can also sweep away wet old snow at medium altitudes (symbolic image). photo
© Maxime Schmid/KEYSTONE/dpa
Experts had warned of avalanches because of the fresh snow over Easter and strong winds – then it happened in Zermatt. Rescuers searched for hours for the missing.
However, according to him, there are currently no reports of missing persons. This is not unusual because athletes who are traveling in the affected Riffelberg area only gradually return to their accommodation in the evening.
In addition to the police, rescue workers searched for people for hours, the spokesman said. The rescue operation continues into the evening. The avalanche was very large and the search area was correspondingly large.
Searches for buried victims are usually carried out from the air using helicopters and sniffer dogs. Depending on the amount of snow, buried people can lie several meters below the snow masses. The Riffelberg is a good 2,500 meters high. It is part of the ski area on Gornergrat with a view of the Matterhorn, around 7.5 kilometers away – when visibility is good.
Warning of high avalanche danger
The newspaper “Blick” published online videos from skiers that were supposed to show the avalanche. Huge amounts of snow fall downhill and create large clouds of snow. A voice can be heard on a video saying in English that there were four people in the area on the opposite slope.
According to police, the avalanche occurred in a variant area. This is terrain where experienced skiers normally ski in deep snow outside of the marked and controlled ski slopes. Most avalanche accidents occur in such areas, often caused by off-piste skiers. These winter sports enthusiasts often have avalanche detection devices with them, which can send a signal even meters deep under the snow. Many equipment also includes an avalanche airbag, which, when inflated, ensures that a skier does not end up deep under the masses of snow in the event of an avalanche.
The Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (WLF) warned of a high risk of avalanches on Monday morning. “Very large and occasionally extremely large spontaneous avalanches are to be expected,” it said. There was also a great danger of avalanches in Tyrol in Austria and in South Tyrol. The reasons for this were a lot of fresh snow and sometimes hurricane-force winds, which caused large accumulations of drifting snow. According to the avalanche warning services, these are particularly susceptible to failure.
If the ski slopes are marked, ski area experts ensure that they are closed if there is a risk of avalanches. Outside the marked pistes, ski tourers must assess the danger themselves. In Switzerland, 14 people died in twelve avalanche accidents in the winter of 2023/24 by the end of March.
Around three weeks ago, six ski tourers had a fatal accident near Zermatt. Five bodies were recovered. The group had encountered bad weather and was unable to leave or get to a hut. People froze to death in the snow at temperatures well below zero degrees.