Avalanche at Swiss resort Zermatt claims three lives, raises season's toll

On Monday, an avalanche at the Swiss resort of Zermatt claimed three lives. The DPA agency, referring to the Valais canton police, reported that one individual was miraculously rescued from beneath the snow.

“I witnessed the avalanche myself; it was quite substantial,” a man told a Blick reporter. The avalanche occurred around 13:00 GMT near Zermatt, watching it unfold from a safe distance—a luxury not afforded to all.

The incident occurred near the Riffelberg train station in the Gornergrat ski resort area. The magnitude of this disaster prompted the mobilization of numerous police units and rescue teams.

In total, 45 rescuers coordinated their efforts on the snow, comprising eight trackers with search dogs, 15 firefighters, and several ski instructors and ski patrollers from the nearby area. The operation also saw the deployment of four helicopters.

The police initially feared three individuals were missing, leaving the possibility that others might have also been caught in the avalanche. The nationalities of the victims have yet to be announced. Remarkably, out of the four engulfed by the snowfall, one survived.

Police noted that the avalanche occurred away from the groomed ski paths, in an area preferred by experienced skiers searching for deep snow. Following recent heavy snowfall and blizzards, the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research has raised the avalanche risk level to high.

This winter, Switzerland has mourned the loss of 14 individuals across 12 avalanche incidents. About three weeks earlier, near Zermatt, an avalanche claimed the lives of six ski mountaineers, with five bodies subsequently recovered. The mountaineers succumbed to hypothermia.

Source: Blick, The Guardian