Young Czech boy dies in avalanche in Austrian Alps

A twelve-year-old boy has died in an avalanche accident in the Austrian Alps.

His family ventured off the groomed slopes on January 13 at the Sportgastein ski area in the Austrian region of Salzburg, Caliber.Az reports citing local media outlets.

According to a spokesperson for the mountain rescue service, a slab of snow broke loose and buried the 12-year-old. Resuscitation efforts were reportedly abandoned after 45 minutes, with emergency doctors arriving via helicopter crew only able to confirm the boy’s death.

According to mountain rescue officials, the victim was from the Czech Republic. The Alpine Police are now investigating exactly how the accident occurred.

The Bad Gastein mountain rescue service has evaluated current snow conditions as critical. Fresh snowfall has not bonded stably with the older snowpack, and snow slabs have repeatedly broken loose even without any external trigger.

Weather conditions in the Austrian Alps have already caused another death in the region, when a female skier was killed in an avalanche in the nearby Tyrol region. According to the website lawine. at, which daily monitors snow conditions for mountain travellers, avalanche danger in Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg is rated as “moderate” on many slopes and “considerable” on some at the moment.

By Nazrin Sadigova