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Rescuers in Japan were searching for two foreign men on Monday after they were caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing in central Japan’s
Nagano Prefecture a day earlier, local police said.
Two foreign skiers missing after avalanche in Nagano, Japan
TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Rescuers in Japan were
searching for two foreign men on Monday after they were caught
in an avalanche while backcountry skiing in central Japan’s
Nagano Prefecture a day earlier, local police said.
Three other foreign skiers hit by the snow slide, which
occurred at around 2:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) on the eastern slope of
Mount Hakuba Norikura, had been able to climb down the mountain
on their own, a police spokesperson said.
The local police had resumed their search shortly after 7
a.m. on Monday for the two missing skiers, whose nationalities
were still unknown, the spokesperson told Reuters. They were
part of two separate groups skiing on the 2,469 m (8,100 foot)
mountain.
The region had experienced heavy snowfall in the previous
few days, and the Japan Metrological Agency had issued an
avalanche warning at the time the avalanche occurred.
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
