They remained buried in the snow for more than 30 minutes: two Estonian skiers died in a Savoyard resort

This Sunday, January 12, in the Val d’Isère ski resort, in Savoie, six Estonian tourists were caught by an avalanche in an off-piste area, behind Cugnaï. Among the six Baltic skiers, two of them died after being buried in the snow for 30 minutes according to information from France 3.

A “strong” avalanche risk this Sunday

In a press release published on Facebook, rescuers specified that four of the tourists were buried by snow, including one only partially and who could have been “quickly” taken out and another came out conscious and still breathing.

The other two remained under the snow for more than 30 minutes before being found by the station’s dog teams. They were in cardiac arrest and died on the spot despite the efforts of the rescuers present. The skiers were not equipped with DVA (Avalanche Victim Detector) even though the avalanche risk was 4 out of 5 this Sunday in the resort.

The station’s helicopter and around twenty tracker-rescuers were mobilized. The latter thus recalled “the importance of being equipped, trained, informed and accompanied by a professional”.