A “dozen” of winter sports enthusiasts were buried Sunday in an avalanche that occurred in Austria, in the Vorarlberg region (west), police said.
• Read also: Strong winds lift carports and cause damage
• Read also: More than 114,000 customers still without power
• Read also: 53 people hospitalized following a bus accident
“One person was saved, while the operation continues to find the others,” a spokesperson told AFP, without further details on their fate.
Helicopters and several teams accompanied by dogs were mobilized for the search.
The avalanche was triggered around 3:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. GMT) at around 2,700 meters above sea level, in the Lech Zürz ski area.
No information was given on the identity of those affected.
Rescuers had warned this weekend once morest a high danger of avalanche in this area as well as in neighboring Tyrol, pointing to the fragility of the snowpack in a context of mild weather.
In recent years, in Austria, snowslides have caused an annual average of around twenty deaths.