MILAN — An avalanche struck high in the Italian Alps on Saturday, killing six backcountry skiers as others looked on in horror as a swath of snow hundreds of meters wide cascaded down.
Helicopters ferried both the survivors and the bodies back to the valley floor from the avalanche site, located just hundreds of meters (yards) shy of Monte Nevoso’s 3,358-meter (11,017-foot) peak. The mountain is not far from the Austrian border in Italy’s Alto Adige region.
The dead were among a group of expert backcountry skiers climbing above tree line to the mountain crest and then skiing down. The cause of the midday avalanche was not immediately known.
Police in Bolzano and Brunico confirmed the deaths while the news agency ANSA, quoting rescuers, said one other person was injured in the avalanche and eight others survived unharmed. It said the group included Austrians and Italians.