A total of eight people died in three avalanches in Austria. This was announced by the mountain rescue service and the police.
Jan 18, 2026, 05:38Jan 18, 2026, 05:38
According to information, an avalanche fell on the 2,150 meter high Finsterkopf in the Grossarltal in the state of Salzburg in the afternoon. Seven ski tourers were buried. According to mountain rescue, four members of the group could only be rescued dead. The others were injured, some seriously.
There have recently been several avalanches in Austria’s mountains. (symbol image)Image: keystone
Shortly before, a woman who was traveling with her husband was hit by an avalanche in the Bad Hofgastein area. She also died under the masses of snow. In both cases, the origin and age of the dead and injured are still unclear.
Another avalanche in Styria: three dead
According to the police, another avalanche accident occurred in the Pusterwald municipality in Styria in the late afternoon. Seven Czech ski tourers were in the area when an avalanche broke out. Three of them were buried by the avalanche, the police said. Any help came too late for her. The four companions who were not recorded were taken out of the alpine terrain by the emergency services and given emergency medical care.
Major avalanche danger in the region
“The avalanche situation is delicate,” said the mountain rescue spokeswoman. Old and new snow are poorly connected to each other, so that avalanches occur again and again. “This tragedy painfully shows how serious the current avalanche situation is,” said the district manager of the Pongau mountain rescue service, Gerhard Kremser.
A large number of rescuers were deployed during the three accidents. A total of more than 200 helpers and mountain rescuers reportedly helped to rescue the dead and fly the injured to hospitals.
After several weeks without snowfall, around 20 to 50 centimeters of snow had recently fallen regionally in the Austrian Alps. Most recently, a young Czech man and a man of unknown identity were killed in two avalanche accidents in the open ski area. The authorities repeatedly appeal to ski tourers to be extremely careful. (sda/dpa)