A six year old Spanish child has become the first avalanche fatality this season. He succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday night the CHUV de Lausanne after being taken by an avalanche in the Felskinn area of Saas Fee.
The accident occured at 11h30 on Wednesday when an avalanche measuring some 100 meters wide hit an open ski run where the skier was having a lesson with an instructor. The boy was on a ski holiday with his parents. The piste service only found the victim after 45 minutes under the snow. An initial investigation suggests that the avalanche was natural and not triggered by skiers in the sector. The search and recovery operation was complicated by bad weather conditions. The boy was taken by road to the hospital at Viège before being helicoptered to the University Hospital in Lausanne.
