Overview
- Authorities confirmed eight fatalities in Austria on Saturday: five in Salzburg and three in Styria, with rescue and recovery operations largely concluded and investigations underway.
- In Salzburg, a woman died at the Schmugglerscharte near Bad Hofgastein and four members of a seven-person group were killed at Finsterkopf in Großarltal.
- Police and the Austrian Alpine Club said the Großarltal group was part of a regular training course, with the deceased including three men aged 53, 63 and 65 and a 60-year-old woman; two others were injured and one escaped unharmed.
- In Styria’s Pusterwald, seven Czech ski tourers were involved in an avalanche that left three dead, as dozens of rescuers, multiple helicopters and dog teams supported operations involving more than 200 personnel overall.
- A separate avalanche on Switzerland’s Piz Badus killed a German ski tourer, while avalanche services report elevated danger across the Alps after recent snowfall and wind loading, prompting renewed appeals to avoid unsecured high-alpine terrain.