Three people died in western Austria within 24 hours as a result of avalanches that hit the region.

A Tyrolean police spokesman told AFP that a “winter sports enthusiast” was killed in Kaltenbach today, without specifying the circumstances of his death. According to the Austrian agency APA, this is a 17-year-old New Zealander who rode off-piste.

On Friday, a 32-year-old Chinese man died after leaving the track due to an avalanche in the ski resort of Sölden.

Early in the morning, another skier, missing since yesterday, was found dead, covered in snow, in the nearby Voralberg area. According to the APA, this is a man in his 50s.

In recent days, the risk of avalanches has increased in Tyrol and Voralberg due to strong winds and prolonged snowfall. Civil protection services in these areas urged all winter sports enthusiasts to be especially careful, but the increase in the danger level to 4 (on a five-point scale) did not prevent many adventurers from going off the slopes. Many rescue operations have been organized even today in difficult conditions.

The February school holidays have begun in Vienna and the ski resorts are overcrowded after a fading period, mainly because there was no snow at the beginning of the season due to good weather at low and medium altitudes.

Two other skiers who went off the slopes died under an avalanche in the canton of Graubünden in southeastern Switzerland. According to local police, a third member of the group was also swept away by the avalanche but escaped unscathed. The two victims were a 56-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.