Brit, 18, dies in an avalanche in Switzerland
Brit, 18, is swept away and killed by an avalanche while on a ski tour in Switzerland
- The avalanche was reported at 4:25pm yesterday and in the subsequent search Brit was found.
- Another person who was on the ski tour with the man from England is still missing
An 18-year-old Briton has died after an avalanche in Switzerland while on a ski tour, local police said.
Authorities are currently searching for a second person who was also caught up in Tuesday’s disaster in Meiringen, in the canton of Bern.
The age and sex of the missing person are unknown.
The 18-year-old who died in the avalanche was originally from England but was living in Bern at the time of the accident.
Police received a report of an avalanche that buried two skiers beneath it at about 4:25 p.m. Tuesday, and mountain rescue teams and a helicopter were deployed for the rescue.
The incident took place in the Bernese Alps yesterday afternoon.
The fatal avalanche occurred on the Gstelliwang ski slope on the Wellhorn mountain in the Bernese Alps.
A group of people had been on a ski tour together when two of them were driving down the Gstelliwang when an avalanche broke out and buried them both below, according to Bern cantonal police.
The emergency services were only able to recover one of those buried, the 18-year-old Briton, dead.
The search for the second person had to be interrupted around 7:30 p.m. local time last night and resumed this morning at dawn.
The crews of Swiss Alpine Rescue Rega, Swiss Alpine Rescue, various Rega helicopters, Air-Glaciers and Swiss Helicopter, mountain specialists and other employees of the Berne cantonal police and the Berne cantonal care team are currently searching for the second individual.