GENEVA, Switzerland: Two skiers were killed in an avalanche in southeastern Switzerland, Swiss police said on Saturday.
The accident took place near the plush resort of Klosters on Friday, the Graubunden regional police said.
“In the Schintersiten area they took a slope with a steep gradient,” said a police statement and added several avalanches broke out and drove away the two men about 200 metres down the rocky ground.
“As a result, both the 54-year-old and his 57-year-old companion, both of whom lived in the canton of Bern, were fatally injured.”
The Graubunden public prosecutor’s office has started an investigation into the incident alongside the cantonal police.
According to statistics from the WSL Snow and Avalanche Research, before Friday’s incident, 12 people had died in avalanches in Switzerland since October 1 last year.
A total of 142 accidents occurred due to avalanches and 188 people were driven away.
Earlier this month, six skiers disappeared after a heavy rainstorm near the luxury resort town of Zermatt in the south. This group consisted of five people from one family who were between 21 and 58 years old.
Five bodies were found and the search for the sixth was eventually called off.
