A British teenager has been killed in an avalanche while skiing off-piste with his twin brother, father and a ski instructor at the exclusive Austrian resort of Lech am Arlberg.
The avalanche buried three of the four, with only the dead 16-year-old's twin escaping unhurt.
The boy's father, 51, was pulled from the snow alive but with serious injuries, while the ski instructor who was also buried emerged with minor injuries.
Lech am Arlberg in Vorarlberg is the same place where Dutch Prince Friso was buried in an avalanche while also taking part in an off-piste ski tour with a local ski guide.
Scene of tragedy: This picture shows the spot in the Austrian resort of Lech am Arlberg where a 16-year-old boy was killed while skiing off-piste with his twin brother, father and a ski instructor
He was buried for 20 minutes before he was dug free and remained in a coma until he died.
The accident happened at 13.24pm on Tuesday when a ridge of snow fell around the Madloch-Fauler Stock while the group of four were heading to Stierlochbach.
The second boy who escaped could only witness the way the snow had buried the rest of the party.
Rescuers said that the father and son had both been equipped with avalanche air bags that had activated as they were covered by the mass of snow, but had still been buried.
The ski instructor who it seems was also equipped with the device was carried along with the snow for 150 meters before it settled where he was ended up at the top of the snow mass and was able to free himself.
He then immediately made an emergency call, before starting to work with the teenager that survived to look for the two that were still buried.
Perilous: The accident happened at the same resort where Dutch Prince Johan Friso (pictured, above, with his daughter Zaria) suffered fatal injuries in an avalanche
The father of the twins was pulled from the snow with serious injuries and was taken to hospital by ambulance. For the teenage boy, however, the rescue came too late and he was declared dead at the scene.
In total, three helicopters were in operation ferrying rescuers to the scene to look for those buried, the Christophorus C8, the Alpin 3 and the Interior Ministry's Libelle 1.
At the time of the accident, the region had issued only a category 1 avalanche warning, meaning there was a very low risk of an avalanche.
But according to Andreas Pecl from the Avalanche Warning Service in Vorarlberg the category 1 warning was deceptive, and could nevertheless mean sudden avalanches.
He said there had been very unfavourable snow conditions because there was very little snow that was hard pressed, and as a result this could easily break free as had happened with the party of four.
He added that there had also been strong winds that also increased the avalanche risk.
However local media questioned why, if this was the case, was the avalanche warning set so low.
No comments:
Post a Comment