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At least 6 killed by avalanche in northern Italy

12 March 2016 17:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least six skiers died and an unidentified number of skiers injured in an avalanche that occurred in Italy's northern region of Trentino Alto Adige on Saturday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to media reports, a huge avalanche buried a group of 12 skiers in the morning.

There might also be some missing people, ANSA news agency quoted rescuers as saying.

The avalanche reportedly occurred at a height of around 3,000 meters on Mount Snow, which is close to the border with Austria, while the group was trying to reach a peak of the mountain above 3,000 meters.

Search-and-rescue operations were still underway, but were extremely difficult due to the height of the area where the accident occurred.

"Helicopters have trouble in reaching places above 3,000 meters," La Stampa newspaper quoted a rescue team leader, Rafael Kostner, as saying.

The three helicopters deployed in the area needed to fly with very little fuel and to leave all the superfluous gear on the ground, he explained. A number of rescuers and sniffer dogs are continuing their search mission, La Stampa added.

Experts in Italy had repeatedly warned skiers and mountaineers of increased risks of avalanches due to high temperature and minimum amount of snowfall, which makes rocks very dangerous.