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.