A young Canadian woman was identified among the three people killed Monday by an avalanche in Zermatt, in the south of Switzerland, the cantonal police of Valais said on Wednesday, who also reported a possible other victim missing.
On Tuesday, the cantonal police
“were informed of the disappearance of a 30-year-old man. Everything suggests that it could also have been swept away by the Zermatt avalanche
,” according to a press release published on Wednesday.
“A new search operation carried out yesterday afternoon in the area concerned did not lead to its discovery
,” said the police.
High risk of avalanches
In addition to the young Canadian, the avalanche claimed the lives of a 15-year-old American teenager and a 58-year-old Swiss man, according to the police, who did not give other details on these victims. A young 20-year-old Swiss man was rescued alive from the large slide - which occurred off-piste on the heights of the town of Zermatt around 2 p.m. - but he is seriously injured. Significant relief resources, including air, were immediately deployed to try to help the victims.
The authorities had reported during the weekend and Monday the high risk of avalanches in the Alpine regions of southern Switzerland due to heavy snowfall and very violent winds.
“Very large, even sometimes extremely large, spontaneous avalanches are to be expected
,” the Institute for the Study of Snow and Avalanches (SLF) indicated on Monday. This winter, 17 people lost their lives in avalanches in Switzerland, according to the new report published by the SLF, after the deaths in Zermatt.