Three dead in an avalanche in northern Italy | Abroad

It would concern three participants in a high mountain guide training. The bodies were taken to the city of Aosta for identification. The course leader managed to free himself and gave the alert. He is in the hospital, but his condition is not serious. Rescue teams were unable to reach the avalanche site on Thursday due to poor weather conditions.

On Sunday, six people were killed by an avalanche in France, near Mont Blanc. It was one of the deadliest avalanches in France for years. All six were probably hikers, including two mountain guides.

The avalanche occurred in the middle of the day at the Armancette glacier east of Annecy, not far from the border with Italy. The marching party didn’t stand a chance. According to official figures, the avalanche was 500 meters wide and descended 1,600 meters in altitude.

Last Saturday in Switzerland, a group of skiers found themselves under an avalanche. Nine of them had to be taken to hospital. Their nationality is unknown.

87 people died in the 2022-2023 winter sports season, according to figures from the European Avalanche Warning Service (EAWS). That’s even less than last year, when 70 people fell under an avalanche and died. On average, 84 people die from an avalanche per season.

Due to a changing winter sports season, there is a lot of difference between the different layers of snow, meteorologist Roosmarijn Knol from Weerplaza explained on Sunday. Therefore, avalanches can occur much earlier. “The snow is more likely to slide. If a big three-meter pack of snow falls all at once and it stays cold afterwards, the chances are much lower.”