Three people died in an avalanche Saturday while skiing off-piste in the mountains of Trentino Alto Adige and Lombardy, two regions that host some of the Milan Cortina Winter Games venues, the Alpine Rescue Service said.
The Alpine Rescue Service said it had not yet confirmed a possible fourth victim in Trentino Alto Adige, where local media reported that an earlier avalanche victim had died in hospital. (Representative Image/Unsplash)Two avalanches occurred in the Marmolada area of the Dolomites, not far from Cortina d’Ampezzo where the women’s alpine skiing competition is being held.
The Alpine Rescue Service said it had recovered the body of a man who went down a piste with three other skiers at Punta Roca, the 3,300m peak of the Marmolada Massif, the highest mountain in the Dolomites.
The service said the man was crushed to death by the avalanche, although his three companions immediately began a search with the help of other skiers, until rescuers arrived.
Two other off-piste skiers died in Albosaggia, a village in the lower Valtellina valley about 40 miles (65 km) east of Bormio, where the men’s alpine skiing competition was being held.
The Alpine Rescue Service said it had not yet confirmed a possible fourth victim in Trentino Alto Adige, where local media reported that an earlier avalanche victim had died in hospital.
Heavy snowfall in the Alps has led to several avalanches in recent days.
Earlier this week, two Finnish skiers were killed in another avalanche in the Trentino Alto Adige region.
Aineva, Italy’s snow and avalanche risk association, which is part of the European Avalanche Warning Service, has identified a marked risk of snowfall for Sunday.
Fresh snow and moderate winds have created windblown snow slabs that can only be removed by a winter sports enthusiast’s pass, AINEVA said on its website.
