Avalanche in Austria, all 10 people saved

No casualties in Austria from an avalanche in the Lech-Zürs ski area in the Vorarlberg region. At first it was feared that at least 10 people were involved. But at the end of a day of searches, the police announced that four people had been injured, one of them seriously, while six other people were unaffected by the avalanche. “A security search will be conducted on Monday to obtain final clarifications,” a statement said.

The avalanche was released at an altitude of 2,700 meters above sea level, just before 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, in the Tretkopf district. In the cell phone video of a witness standing in the distance, dozens of skiers can be seen on the snow track. This raised alarm and led to a large-scale operation involving about 200 rescuers. During the operation, a partially buried man was pulled out of the snow and airlifted to the regional hospital in Innsbruck with serious injuries. Another independently arrived at a district hospital.

Officials warned of a high risk of avalanches in the region over the weekend. In recent years, avalanches in Austria have killed an average of about 20 people each year.