Moment a huge avalanche hit recreational skiers on a piste at Austrian resort before they all miraculously escaped alive

• A video of the avalanche seemingly covering ten people was posted to Twitter 
• But it turned out most had escaped by skiing down the mountain into the valley 
• One partly buried man was recovered with serious injuries and a search began 

This is the moment a huge avalanche hit recreational skiers on a piste at an Austrian resort before they all miraculously escaped alive. 

Police said Monday they believe no one is missing after the Christmas Day avalanche that swept across a ski trail near the town of Zuers in western Austria.

A video posted to Twitter shows the avalanche completely cover multiple skiers on the piste.

In the background, the person taking the video can be heard saying: ‘Oh my god, we need to check on those people.’ 

This is the moment a huge avalanche hit recreational skiers on a piste at an Austrian resort before they all miraculously escaped alive

Police said Monday they believe no one is missing after the Christmas Day avalanche that swept across a ski trail near the town of Zuers in western Austria (Pictured: Where the avalanche took place)

First responders initially assumed as many as 10 people could be buried based on the mobile phone video

First responders initially assumed as many as 10 people could be buried based on the mobile phone video.

The avalanche covered 500 metres of the trail near the 2,700-metre Trittkopf mountain, police in the Vorarlberg region said in a statement.

The rescuers had to be airlifted to the avalanche site using eight helicopters. 

One partly buried man was recovered with serious injuries and 200 rescuers were deployed to search the snow mass for more.

It turned out that several of the people in the video had escaped and skied on down the mountain into the valley without reporting their involvement, and it took hours to track everyone down, police said. 

Three people were reported to have suffered minor injuries. 

A video posted to Twitter shows the avalanche completely cover multiple skiers on the piste

It turned out that several of the people in the video had escaped and skied on down the mountain into the valley

A search is continuing today to make sure, but police said that ‘according to the current state of information, it can be assumed that no further persons are missing.’

The avalanche followed days of heavy snow, followed by warm weather on Christmas Day, and the mountain rescue service had rated the avalanche danger as high. 

The head of tourism in the Zuers and Lech am Arlberg region, Hermann Fercher, said that the avalanche occurred even though explosives had been set off in that area to reduce the risk, the dpa news agency reported. 

Police said they would be investigating how the accident came about.

In Austria, every year, around 20 people die as a result of avalanches. 

Source: Read Full Article