Hautes-Alpes: black day after the death of five skiers – BFMTV.COM

This is a black day. Five skiers were killed on Wednesday in two mountain accidents in the Hautes-Alpes: two Austrians and one Italian in an avalanche in the Ecrins , from a foreign group that another member was seriously injured, and two that unscrewed in Dévoluy .

The seriously injured victim, an Austrian, was in a state of “extreme urgency” and his prognosis was launched, had said initially the prefecture. Evacuated by helicopter to Grenoble hospital, he was still under examination, including scanner, in the evening, said the floor of Gap. Identity checks, still ongoing, it was determined that one of the dead victims was an Italian national, unlike a first assessment addressing three Austrians.

Many rescuers mobilized

The avalanche was triggered Wednesday around 15 hours, under the collar Emile Pic, to more than 3,000 meters above sea level, in the municipality of Pelvoux. The four victims were part of a group of ten foreign skiers, supervised by a guide, which is still unclear whether he was among the victims.

The seven others, who have not all been washed away by the snow slide, were safe in the shelter of the Jewel cases, said the regional director of the County Fire Department and emergency ( SDIS), Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Moreau.

Many rescuers helped helicopters were dispatched to the site: 24 rescuers PGHM Modane, Briançon and Versoud with their dogs, and about thirty firefighters Hautes-Alpes. But the wind blowing at more than 80 km / h on the scene of the avalanche complicated their task.

“Rescue workers are raising the doubt but there is no sign that there are other people under the avalanche, “said Lt. Col. Patrick Moreau.

Risk ‘marked’ 3 of 5

“There was a lot of wind and Easter snow, this is a very heavy snow and we had, as it happened in January, a wind slab which unfortunately carried skiers” said Europe 1 the Prefect of the Hautes-Alpes, Pierre Besnard, who visited the scene.

The avalanche risk was “marked” with a risk of 3 on a scale of 5, Wednesday on all ranges of the Hautes-Alpes.

Earlier in the day, in the same department, Two backcountry skiers were found dead in the massive Dévoluy, at a place called “The Needles Mas “Saint-Disdier. According to the prefect, these hiking skiers certainly unscrewed. “They have fallen and died,” he has said. The Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has expressed his sorrow after deadly avalanche.

31 killed since the start of the ski season

Since the beginning of the season skiing, avalanche had killed 31 people in 23 accidents, mostly when trekking or skiing off-piste, according to a statement from the National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches (Anena ). With Wednesday’s avalanche in the French Alps, the balance rises to 34 dead.

The deadliest accident occurred on January 24 in the village of Ceillac, in the Massif du Queyras, already in the Hautes-Alpes. A roped six skiers had been found buried with one of the deadliest avalanche in the French Alps in recent years.

Each winter, the mountain is about thirty victims. Last season was less fatal with 21 dead.