Avalanche goes on ski slope in Austria: all missing rescued – four injured
Created: 2022-12-26Updated: 2022-12-26 06:51
By: Mark Stoffers
The rescue operation on Sunday evening: ten winter sports enthusiasts were suspected under the snow masses.
© dpa
In Austria, an avalanche occurred in Vorarlberg on Sunday.
Emergency services initially assumed that 10 people were missing, but all have now been rescued.
Update from December 26, 6:01 a.m .:
After the avalanche on the Arlberg in Austria, all the missing people are saved.
Four people were injured, one of them seriously, as the state police in Vorarlberg announced early Monday morning.
According to the current state of knowledge, no one is missing.
Originally, the emergency services had assumed ten winter sports enthusiasts who could have been buried by the snow masses on the slopes on Sunday.
The video of a ski guest suggested this conclusion.
The police have now announced that the other six people were not caught by the avalanche.
Avalanche in the Lech/Zürs ski area: rescue operation ended
According to the police, the search and rescue operation was stopped late Sunday evening.
For security reasons, a search will be carried out this Monday "for final clarification".
Update from December 25, 8.40 p.m .:
After the avalanche in the Austrian ski area Lech/Zürs there is good news to report.
Because in the evening, the emergency services gave the all-clear: Eight of the alleged ten buried winter sports enthusiasts are said to have been saved alive, as reported by
krone.at
.
Avalanche in Austria: Eight people rescued alive – the search for other winter sports enthusiasts continues
The search for two other people who are said to be buried under the snow masses from the avalanche in Vorarlberg in Austria continues.
The mission should last until there is certainty, according to the emergency services.
However, the chances of the missing person surviving more than five hours after the avalanche are classified as low if they were caught by the avalanche.
The search for the other missing people is difficult because the snow piles up to four meters high.
Avalanche in Austria: 200 people involved in the search operation - "do everything to save the winter sports enthusiasts"
About 200 people involved in the search operation.
Since darkness was already beginning to make the search difficult in the afternoon, searchlights were requested in order to be able to continue the search and, for example, to illuminate the avalanche cone.
"We're doing everything we can to save the winter sports enthusiasts," said the municipality of Lech.
The use of eight helicopters was stopped in the evening.
However, they are still on standby to take any injured people to the hospital.
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Avalanche in Vorarlberg in Austria: operations manager says – avalanche “went off the slopes”
Update from December 25, 7.45 p.m .:
After an avalanche in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, the police are still assuming ten winter sports enthusiasts who were buried in the Lech/Zürs ski area on Sunday afternoon.
According to current information from the police, an exact number of buried people could not be finally determined as of 6:30 p.m.
In addition, more information about the avalanche in Austria has become known.
According to operations manager Hermann Fercher at
kurier.at
, the avalanche went down the middle of the slope.
"According to the current state of knowledge, it broke loose in open terrain and then went off onto the piste.
Police investigations are ongoing.”
Avalanches in Austria: Avalanche "in the middle of the slope" - "Freerider" as the cause?
The exact cause of the avalanche in Vorarlberg is not yet known.
Therefore, it cannot yet be ruled out that a "freerider" could have triggered the avalanche in the Lech/Zürs ski area.
Nisher maintains that one person was recovered during the rescue work.
The remaining winter sports enthusiasts have not yet been found, while the rescue and search operation continues in the dark.
Meanwhile, some of the helicopters have been suspended because they do not have the specialized equipment for such a rescue operation in the dark.
Avalanche in Austria: Ten people buried after an avalanche
First report from December 25, 6:20 p.m.:
Bregenz – In an avalanche in Austria, several people were probably buried by snow masses.
The avalanche occurred on Sunday afternoon (December 25) in the open ski area of Lech and Zürs.
According to initial findings, around ten winter sports enthusiasts have been buried.
The rescue operation is in full swing after the avalanche in Austria, as the police also announced on Sunday.
Helicopters, search parties and avalanche search dogs were deployed.
One person had already been rescued with injuries, the police said.
The injured man was flown to the hospital in Innsbruck for treatment.
Avalanche in Austria: Ten people buried in the Lech/Zürs ski area in Vorarlberg
The avalanche came off around 3:00 p.m. in the area of the Trittkopf.
Shortly thereafter, several helicopters, including three from Tyrol, and several search parties were on their way to the avalanche cone on the 2,720-meter-high mountain.
Avalanche in Austria: Another avalanche in Tyrol
Away from the accident in Vorarlberg, another avalanche occurred in Austria early on Sunday morning.
Unlike in Lech/Zürs, however, the free ski area of Sölden (District Imst) in Tyrol did not end well.
Although a search operation of around two and a half hours with 40 helpers and several dogs was triggered, the all-clear could be given, as the police informed the Austrian news agency APA.
Originally, the emergency services had feared that the avalanche in Sölden could have buried a person under snow masses.
However, this concern turned out to be unfounded.
Avalanche in Austria: avalanche in Sölden without buried people
According to the mountain rescue service, the avalanche in the Tyrolean Alps was released shortly after 12.30 p.m. on the Tiefenbachferner near the mountain station.
In the Tyrolean mountains, as was the case throughout Austria at the beginning of December, the avalanche danger for winter sports enthusiasts on Sunday was tricky.
The avalanche warning service pointed to a high susceptibility to disruption of the snow cover, the probability of avalanches was classified as high.
