Three people, including an American teenager, were killed in a massive avalanche in Switzerland on Easter Monday, police have confirmed.
Three bodies were found after the group went missing near Zermatt, home to a popular ski resort in the southern canton of Valais.
A fourth person was found injured and flown to a nearby hospital after a dramatic hunt in the Riffelberg area involving four helicopters.
About 45 rescuers took part in the searches, including eight avalanche dog handlers, 13 rescue specialists, 15 firefighters and local ski instructors.
“The deceased are a 15-year-old American and a man and a woman whose identification has not yet been completed,” a statement said Tuesday morning.
The injured person was a 20-year-old Swiss man, authorities said.
Valais, in Switzerland, attracts tourists from around the world during the busy ski season, but authorities are warning of the risk of more disasters amid heavy snowfall and ‘hurricane force’ winds in the region.
Shocking video showed the moment the avalanche touched down near the Riffelberg area
Authorities warn an avalanche risk remains amid hurricane-force winds in the region
The skiers were reportedly in an area prone to deep snow, outside the marked ski slopes, around 2 p.m. when the avalanche struck.
“It seemed like there were several people on the slope at the time of the avalanche,” a shocked witness told local newspaper Blick.
Bruno Jelk, former head of Zermatt’s mountain rescue service and current head of Mattertal’s avalanche monitoring, said several people had come off the slopes on a “very steep slope” where tracks could still be seen.
‘The search was not that easy in the beginning’ said Anjan Truffer, head of rescue at Air Zermatt.
Two of the victims were found with avalanche seekers on their bodies, authorities said.
Police said the other two victims were a man and a woman, whose “identification is still ongoing.”
Truffer added: ‘At the moment, thank God, we have no further signs of people who could be buried.’
The ski area was some 2,500 meters above sea level and avalanche warnings are issued occasionally.
Much snow had fallen over the Easter weekend as the mountains were battered by strong ‘hurricane force’ winds, local media said reported.
“Very large, and in some cases extremely large, spontaneous avalanches are to be expected,” the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research said.
‘The slopes are 100 percent secured. There is no safety concern for people spending time alone on the slopes,” Truffer added.
In a second unrelated tragedy: a helicopter crashed in the neighboring Combins region, between Val de Bagnes and Val d’Entremont.
The cause is being investigated.
Police said it was initially unclear exactly how many people were caught in the avalanche in Zermatt.
At around 4.30pm yesterday, a media spokesperson said that ‘probably at least three people’ were involved in the accident.
By evening, rescue teams confirmed they had called off their search. All four were taken to hospital.
When the family was found on Monday, the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos declared the second highest danger level for parts of the region, including Zermatt.
File photo shows Mount Tete Blanche near the Swiss-Italian border and Zermatt
General view of the popular seaside resort of Zermatt in southern Switzerland
Fourteen According to the SLF, people have died in avalanches in Switzerland this winter.
A family of skiers was found dead in the Swiss Alps in March after leaving Zermatt for the nearby town of Arolla.
The group of six became trapped and raised the alarm when they became caught up in a violent storm, preventing helicopters and rescue teams from reaching them.
Five of the six alpine enthusiasts were later found to have died near the Dent Blanche alpine hut.
Anjan Truffer told Swiss media: “The image we found was ugly… We saw that the ski tourers had tried to build a cave and protect themselves from the wind.”
“The ski tourers froze to death at high altitude, disoriented,” he said, adding that their bodies were found scattered around the site, suggesting they had panicked before losing consciousness.
With helicopters unable to brave the storm, five rescuers had tried to reach the rugged site on foot from Zermatt, but they too had to return at an altitude of 3,000 meters due to bad weather, according to local media reports.
On March 12, it was reported that the missing sixth skier could have fallen into a crevasse and survived.
