Four winter sports enthusiasts were swept away by avalanches in Switzerland and Austria at the weekend. Two men succumbed to their injuries.
Innsbruck – In Switzerland, two men aged 51 and 31 died in an avalanche on Saturday. They were buried in a snow avalanche in Sachseln in the canton of Obwalden. After the men had not returned from their ski tour in the afternoon, relatives alerted the police, as the canton of Obwalden announced on Sunday.
The Swiss air rescue service REGA finally discovered the two in an avalanche cone. The two men from the region were flown to nearby hospitals. There they succumbed to their injuries.
Avalanche accidents in Switzerland and Tyrol: 63-year-old must be resuscitated
In Tyrol there was an avalanche on Sunday in the area of the Schafseitenspitze. According to the Tyrolean police, a 63-year-old Austrian was buried. He was traveling alone. “The alpinist could be freed from the avalanche by other tourers,” said the police. He had to be resuscitated at the scene of the accident and was then taken to the university clinic in Innsbruck by the “Alpin 5” emergency doctor helicopter.
The avalanche was released at the 2602 meter high Schafseitenspitze in the Wipptal. According to the police, the slab avalanche broke off on the northern summit slope at an altitude of around 2,500 meters, with a width of 350 meters to 400 meters and a length of 1,000 meters. Other winter sports enthusiasts who were out and about in the area remained unharmed. On Saturday, an avalanche on the Kaunertal Glacier, also in Tyrol, carried away a 36-year-old Austrian. Her companion sounded the alarm. Thanks to the airbag, she was quickly found and rescued, according to the police. She was also badly injured. Last weekend, ten people died in avalanches in the Alps. (tkip/dpa)
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