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The mountain and the cold of the Sierra Nevada claim three deaths in a week

2022-12-16T19:07:09.697Z


Added to the two women who died on Monday was the death of a young man who appeared this Thursday after an accident while trying to climb the Mulhacén peak with bad weather conditions.


The agents remove the bodies of the two women found dead, this Monday. EUROPA PRESS / CIVIL GUARD (EUROPA PRESS / CIVIL GUARD)

The cold and the harshest nature of the Sierra Nevada, that which exists outside the skiable and urbanized areas, have claimed three victims in just four days this week.

On Monday afternoon, two Hungarian-born women were found dead in a place very close to the inhabited area of ​​the Sierra Nevada ski resort.

And, this Thursday, the Civil Guard found a 22-year-old young man of Biolurrus origin dead in an accident in a river in the same mountain range.

On this occasion, everything suggests that he suffered an accident trying to cross the riverbed when he intended to climb the Mulhacén peak on its north face on a day that, from a meteorological point of view, was not conducive to mountaineering.

The coincidence of deaths overlaps in time but not in type or in the specific area.

The two women, aged 55 and 57, died in Hoya de la Mora, just 200 meters from the university hostel, located in the upper part of the ski resort's residential area.

The Civil Guard, who rescued them after receiving a call from a hiker who found them, could not do anything to save their lives.

The autopsy, as well as the visual inspection of the agents, showed that there were no signs of violence and, although the final results of the medical examination have not yet been known, everything points to death from hypothermia or frostbite, according to preliminary data from the Institute of Legal Medicine of Granada.

In the days following the rescue, it became known that the women, who were documented,

The curious thing about the case is that, due to the place where they were found, it was not a high mountain hike or anything similar, but —at least until that moment— a walk around the inhabited area.

Civil Guard sources confirm that they are still taking the appropriate steps to find relatives in their native country and proceed with the procedures for the repatriation of the corpses.

The case of the young Belarusian is totally different.

According to these sources from the armed institute, the deceased is a man who lived in Guardamar de Segura, Alicante.

The mountaineer spent a few days in a Sierra Nevada shelter with his partner and two other people.

On Sunday, the group's intention was to ascend Mulhacén on its north face.

But the atmospheric conditions threw back three of the members of the expedition.

The reasons why the young man insisted on embarking on the path despite the circumstances and the retreat from his friends are unknown.

That ascent to Mulhacén and in those conditions is not a hiking route for amateurs.

On Tuesday, after two days without hearing from the young man, the group notified the Civil Guard of the disappearance of their travel companion.

In a first search on foot, the agents could not find him.

A day later, on Wednesday, the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (GREIM) restarted the search following the most likely route.

Finally, a rescue dog found the young man in the bed of the Valdecasillas river, in the area near Las Chorreras de la Mosca in Sierra Nevada (in the town of Güejar Sierra), according to the Civil Guard in a statement.

The visual inspection of the agents points to an accident when he tried to cross the river, which caused him to be dragged by the water and die from the injuries caused.

Bad weather conditions prevented GREIM members from evacuating the body at first.

They had to wait until this Thursday to do it.

Thanks to the truce due to bad weather and the support of the Civil Guard air unit, they managed to rescue the lifeless body.

Weather conditions

In the absence of knowing the ultimate reasons for both accidents, Sierra Nevada sources explain that the week has not been particularly cold compared to what they consider to be a harsh winter for the park.

In the early hours of Sunday, it reached, at times —according to the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET)—, seven degrees below zero.

The rest of the week, the levels were much smoother;

a value that any mountaineer is capable of supporting with the appropriate clothing.

Yes there was significant snowfall on Monday and Tuesday.

In any case, there is no official explanation of what happened in either of the two cases.

In fact, this succession of accidents in Sierra Nevada is not frequent.

The last similar case occurred in 2004. So,

Three Dutch tourists died from a snow and wind storm halfway between La Alpujarra and the Barranco del Poqueira, located 2,500 meters above sea level.

One of the hikers, however, was found a few meters from the shelter located in that ravine.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-12-16

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