Eight skiers die in series of avalanches across Austrian Alps
Avalanches killed eight Alpine skiers in three separate incidents across Austria on Saturday.
Heavy snowfall last week has been blamed for the series of avalanches, with local officials urging visitors to heed their warnings.
Three Czech ski tourists were swept away from their group of seven in the Murtal district of Styria, in central Austria, at around 4.25pm local time yesterday.
The three visitors were completely buried, police said, before rescue teams were able to find and ‘partially extricate them’.
They added: ‘Despite immediate rescue efforts, the three individuals were confirmed dead.
‘The four other members of the group, who were not caught in the avalanche, were rescued from the alpine terrain and given emergency medical treatment.’
Weather conditions meant the recovery of the bodies would be completed today.
A separate avalanche incident earlier on Saturday hit a group of seven skiers near the city of Salzburg, killing four and seriously injuring one.
Mountain rescue officials said they were alerted to that incident at around 2pm local time.
An hour and a half earlier, a female skier was buried in another avalanche in the same part of the country.
Local mountain rescue chief Gerhard Kremser said: ‘Our deepest sympathies go out to the families. This tragedy painfully demonstrates how serious the current avalanche situation is.’
The three incidents add to a considerable death toll in the Alps over the past week.
A 13-year-old Czech boy was killed in an avalanche while skiing in Austria’s Bad Gastein resort on Tuesday, while a 58-year-old skier died when another avalanche struck in Weerburg, western Austria, last Sunday.
Meanwhile, a German man was killed by an avalanche that injured four others while cross country skiing in Switzerland on Friday.
And six skiers died in avalanches at several Alpine resorts in France last weekend.
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