Rescue teams located this Wednesday, February 18, the bodies of eight skiers out of the 10 who had been reported missing the day before, after a major avalanche in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, California, reported the Associated Press (AP). Searches continued, however, in the hope of finding one last missing person, while a violent snowstorm continued to ravage the region.
A avalanche hit a group of 15 people – eleven skiers and four guides – who were making a three-way crossing of the Sierra Nevada. The incident took place at Pico Castle, a well-known tourist destination in the Tahoe National Forest, in the western USA.
The tragedy has already become, according to local authorities, a avalanche deadliest recorded on North American soil in almost half a century, as reported by AP, at a time when the West Coast of the United States is ravaged by a “historic” winter storm.
During a press conference held this Wednesday, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon reported that the victims’ families have already been alerted to the fact that the operation has officially moved from a search and rescue phase to a body recovery mission. The decision comes after days of extreme weather conditions that made access to the disaster area difficult.
Six of the skiers were rescued on Tuesday in a massive operation carried out by several dozen rescuers under adverse weather conditions, as a result of a strong storm that has hit California since Monday, with strong gusts of wind and heavy snowfall.
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