At least seven people have died in a series of avalanches across Austria over the weekend, highlighting what officials describe as a "precarious" situation in the Alps. An avalanche killed four members of an Austrian Alpine Club training group at an altitude of about 7,200 feet, while three Czech skiers perished in a separate incident in Pusterwald, central Austria.
The Austrian Alpine Club tragedy struck a group participating in a regular winter training program. Three men aged 53, 63, and 65, along with a 60-year-old woman, lost their lives. Two others suffered serious injuries, while one person escaped unharmed. The husband of one of the skiers raised the alarm.
An avalanche caught the Czech skiers shortly before 4:30pm. More than 200 helpers and mountain rescuers assisted across the three major incidents, recovering the deceased and airlifting the injured to hospitals.
Clear Warnings Preceded Tragedies
Gerhard Kremser, district head of the Pongau mountain rescue service, emphasized the gravity of the situation. "This tragedy painfully demonstrates how serious the current avalanche situation is," he said, highlighting that officials had issued clear and repeated warnings. He urged winter sports enthusiasts to exercise extreme caution above the tree line.
Warning levels two and three applied across Styria and Salzburg over the weekend. The Austrian mountain rescue service described current conditions as "precarious," while the avalanche warning service assessed danger in higher elevations as moderate.
Deadly Season Continues
The weekend fatalities bring this season's avalanche death toll to 13 as of Sunday. Tuesday last week, an avalanche killed a 13-year-old boy in the alpine resort of Bad Gastein. Andreas Kandler, mountain rescue chief, reported that incident.
Jorg Randl, head of the mountaineering department at the Austrian Alpine Club, expressed profound grief over the tragedy. "In our courses, risk competence and safety awareness are paramount. This tragedy is deeply painful," he stated.
Hans Ebner, Head of the Alpine Police, acknowledged the recurring nature of such dangers. "Every victim is one too many. However, there are always avalanche seasons, you could say – after snowfall with wind, when the snow is redistributed," he noted.
The recent cluster of avalanches followed several days of heavy snow across the Alps. French weather forecasters had warned of high avalanche risk for the weekend, with officials in France's Savoie region recording at least six avalanches on Sunday morning alone.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
