Ten skiers are missing and at least six others are trapped and awaiting rescue in heavy snow after an avalanche hit a mountainside in part of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, authorities said.
Hours after the late-morning crash, as darkness fell and a nearby highway was closed due to low visibility amid the winter storm, Capt. Russell Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said rescue teams had not yet reached the scene of the avalanche, Reuters reports.
“It’s going to be a slow, painstaking process because they have to be very careful when approaching the area because the avalanche danger is still very high,” Greene said in an interview with KCRA-TV from Sacramento.
An avalanche hit Castle Peak near Truckee, California, about 10 miles north of Lake Tahoe, trapping a group of 16 skiers.
The group consisted of four ski guides and another 12 skiers. At least six of them survived and remained at the site of the avalanche waiting for rescue, while the others are not known, according to the statement.
If it turns out that all ten skiers were killed, the accident would rank among the deadliest avalanches on record in the United States.
Avalanches have claimed an average of 27 lives each winter in the United States over the past decade. A winter storm warning was in effect for much of northern California on Tuesday, with heavy snow forecast in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
(TYPE/Source: Fena/Photo: Illustration)
