An avalanche near California’s town of Truckee has left as many as 10 skiers missing and stranded 6 people.
The tragedy occurred in the Lake Tahoe region, in the Castle Peak area, at around 11:30PST (19:30GMT), as reported by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.
As soon as the calamity happened, the official authorities deployed the rescue team to search for the missing and stranded people.
According to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, “Highly-skilled rescue ski teams have deployed from two nearby ski resorts.
The six known survivors have been “directed to shelter in place as best they can in the conditions,” the sheriff added.
Unfortunately, harsh weather conditions coupled with zero visibility in the midst of a winter storm have intensified the risk of additional avalanches.
“It’s going to be a slow, tedious process because they also have to be very careful accessing the area due to the fact that the avalanche danger is still very high,” a spokesperson for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, Captain Russell Greene said.
Around 46 rescuers were traveling to the site Tuesday night, Greene said, but they had not yet reached the location as reported by NBC.
Survivors have constantly remained in touch with rescue teams through messaging and radio communication and have taken in “makeshift shelter.”
The group of people caught in the avalanche consisted of 12 clients and four ski guides.
Avalanches-related tragedies are not uncommon in the United States, claiming an average of 12 lives each winter over the past decade.
Right before the incident happened, the Sierra Avalanche Center had issued a warning about “high avalanche danger” in the ski region.
If the rescuers fail to locate and rescue 10 missing skiers, the incident would rank among the deadliest avalanches on record in the US.
