Eight winter sports enthusiasts were killed in avalanches in Austria on Friday. Report that Austrian media. It was an unusually dangerous day with at least 31 avalanches, with several injuries as a result. The authorities in the winter sports region of Tyrol warn that the avalanche danger is persistently high on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, Austrian police found the bodies of a 60-year-old man and 61-year-old woman, both residents of Austria. Relatives had last contact with the two on Friday afternoon, when they were at the Breitegg summit in Tyrol. In the evening the family could no longer reach the sixty-somethings and called in the police, who found them on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday, a 42-year-old Austrian guide and four Swedish skiers were killed in another avalanche in Tyrol. The Swedes, all in their forties, were covered in snow near the town of Spiss near the Swiss border. A fifth Swedish member of the group was able to arrange help via telephone and was rescued. The eighth victim on Friday, a 43-year-old man, was killed in an avalanche near the town of Klösterle.