08. 02. 10. - 16:00

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08. 02. 10. - 16:00

Avalanche death total rises

The number of avalanche deaths in Austria so far this season has risen to fifteen following more avalanches over the weekend in the Austrian Alps.

A German man died of his injuries last night (Sun/Mon) at Innsbruck University Clinic after having been caught in an avalanche near Tyrol’s Pitztal Glacier earlier in the day.

Police said the man from Baden-Württemberg and a German friend were swamped by a 30-metre-wide mass of snow that broke away and carried them 300 metres downhill.

The friend managed to free himself and call rescuers, who took the other German to the Innsbruck clinic.

The German was not the only avalanche victim over the weekend. A 39-year-old Upper Austrian man’s body was found yesterday after he had gone missing while skiing near Große Bärneck mountain in Styria’s Liezen district.

In another incident, a 28-year-old man died yesterday while skiing near Nassfeld in Carinthia’s Hermagor district when he was caught in an avalanche and smashed against a tree.

Many other winter sportsmen were caught in avalanches over the weekend but survived their experiences with varying degrees of injury.

The weekend deaths came on the heels of those of five people caught in avalanches last Thursday.

Experts warned today that there would be no early decline in the level of avalanche danger in many Austrian provinces.

They said the danger remained at the three level in Tyrol except on secured pistes and warned the slightest thing, including the weight of an individual skier, could cause an avalanche and many would occur spontaneously. They recommended that inexperienced skiers remain on secured pistes.

Experts in Lower Austria said the danger of avalanches remained at the three level in many areas, including that extending from the Ybbs Valley Alps to the Rax-Schneeberg group of mountains.

The risk of death is high when people are caught in avalanches. Hanno Bilek from the Committee for Alpine Safety said last Friday: "Six of every 10 people who are completely buried in avalanches die."

He added that two-thirds of the 26 avalanche fatalities in Austria annually were people engaged in ski touring, with the remainder those of skiers who strayed off-piste into dangerous unsecured areas and who were not as experienced as those on ski tours.

Bilek noted that people dug out within 15 minutes of being buried had an 82-per-cent chance of survival. Rescuers who made it to the site of an avalanche 20 to 30 minutes after its occurrence often arrived too late, so it was very important for other skiers to dig avalanche victims out, he added.

Avalanches, he said, were the number one cause of death among people doing winter sports.

There were 32 avalanche deaths during the 2008/2009 winter season in Austria.

Austrian Times

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