5 off-piste skiers have died in two avalanches within the Austria’s Alps following heavy snowfall within the area.
An avalanche hit a bunch of seven skiers within the Pongau space close to Salzburg, killing 4 and critically injuring one on Saturday, native mountain rescue officers stated.
The same avalanche swept away a skier in the identical space earlier within the day.
Poor circumstances have led to the latest deaths of a lot of individuals within the Alps during the last week.
Within the newest incidents, the mountain rescue service stated it was alerted round 14:00 native time (13:00 GMT).
4 individuals had been discovered lifeless, whereas one other suffered severe accidents, they stated.
Round an hour and a half earlier than, a feminine skier was buried by an avalanche in open alpine terrain close to the identical space.
“Our deepest sympathies exit to the households. This tragedy painfully demonstrates how severe the present avalanche scenario is,” stated Gerhard Kremser, district head of the Pongau mountain rescue service.
Additional avalanches had been recorded within the Pongau area round noon, however no-one was injured.
On Tuesday, an avalanche killed a 13-year-old Czech boy snowboarding within the Austrian Alpine resort of Dangerous Gastein.
Final Sunday, 58-year-old skier died in an avalanche within the Tyrolean resort of Weerberg in western Austria.
In neighbouring Switzerland, a German man was killed in an avalanche, and 4 different individuals had been injured, as they had been cross-country snowboarding on Friday.
Final weekend in France, six skiers died after being caught in avalanches in numerous Alpine resorts.
