Three dead and two injured in Alpine avalanche

Three people have been killed and two injured in an Alpine avalanche in Austria this weekend.

At least three people were killed and two injured this weekend when they were buried by snow in an Alpine avalanche in the region of Salzburg, northern Austria, reported the Austrian public-service channel ORF.

The accident took place at around noon this Saturday, December 4, on the Lachenspitze mountain, in the district of Lungau, as a group of eleven young skiers was climbing up.

Eight of them were dragged under a huge mass of snow of around 200 metres wide and around 500 metres high, which had fallen from a point close to the summit of the mountain, from an altitude of over 2,000 metres.

Three young people were buried under enormous quantities of snow, of up to 4.5 metres deep, reported Christoph Wiedl, in charge of disaster control in the Lungau region.

The victims’ bodies were recovered “gradually” by the emergency rescue teams after a large-scale search operation involving five helicopters, which lasted several hours.

Only one of them was still alive and could be revived at the time, but he later died in hospital.

Another two members of the group were also hospitalised after having sustained injuries.

________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.