Avalanche near Zermatt in Valais claims three lives
Published: Monday, Apr 1st 2024, 22:11
Updated At: Monday, Apr 1st 2024, 22:20
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Monday's avalanche near Zermatt VS claimed three lives, one person was rescued injured. This was announced by the Valais cantonal police on Monday evening. The search on the Riffelberg was initially suspended. It was unclear whether any people were still trapped.
According to the police, the avalanche occurred shortly after 2 p.m. - in a variant area. This is terrain where experienced skiers ski in deep snow outside of the marked and controlled ski slopes.
A large contingent of rescue workers was deployed on the site and from the air in the search for the missing persons.
Bruno Jelk, head of the Zermatt Mountain Rescue Service and the avalanche service for many years, spoke on Swiss-German radio and television SRF of two avalanches that had probably been triggered by someone. The search for missing persons could take longer. It is unclear how many people are missing. Tracks in the snow indicated that several people had gone down the steep slope.
Lots of fresh snow and gale-force winds have caused a considerable avalanche risk in the southern Alps of Switzerland over the past few days. The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos GR announced the second-highest danger level for parts of Graubünden and Valais. "Very large and occasionally extremely large spontaneous avalanches are to be expected", it said on Monday.
With the latest victims this winter, 17 people have died in avalanches in the mountains in Switzerland so far. Most of the victims were ski tourers.
©Keystone/SDA
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