According to Rainer Fitz, head of the Vorarlberg Alpine Police, intensive investigations were carried out on Tuesday.
©APA; LR; VOL.AT/Hofmeister
After the avalanche in Lech/Zürs on Sunday afternoon with ten participants, the investigative work of the alpine police was in full swing on Tuesday.
It is in the hands of the alpine police officers to record, measure and fathom the avalanche accident with a seriously injured person as precisely as possible. The avalanche in Lech/Zürs is particularly explosive because winter sports enthusiasts were hit by the masses of snow on an open ski slope.
Information persons, witnesses and the lift company are questioned
According to Rainer Fitz, head of the Vorarlberg Alpine Police, intensive investigations were carried out on Tuesday. The first step is to question informants, witnesses and those responsible for the lift company, Fitz told the APA. As soon as the avalanche and weather conditions permit, a wide variety of surveys will then be carried out on the avalanche itself. In this way, the avalanche is precisely measured, but also its nature. “Of course we also take a look at the snowpack and create a snow profile,” said Fitz.
A skier seriously injured
The avalanche released on Sunday shortly before 3 p.m. in the open ski area, but fell on ski slope no. 134 (Balmen), where ten winter sports enthusiasts from Europe and the USA were surprised. A skier from Germany was transferred to the intensive care unit in Innsbruck with serious injuries, and three other people were slightly injured. The piste itself was buried over a length of 500 to 600 meters, and the lift operator is basically responsible for safety on the piste.
In the morning there was still blasting at the spot
How the avalanche could even come about was initially a mystery to those responsible on the Arlberg. “The fact is that in the morning the blast was carried out exactly at the point where the avalanche started,” emphasized Hermann Fercher from Lech/Zürs-Tourism on Stefanitag. Nevertheless, apparently not all the snow had gone. In Lech/Zürs there was a significant avalanche danger of level three on the five-level danger scale at the weekend.
Possible factors for triggering avalanches
Possible factors for triggering the avalanche could have been people, animals or the sun’s rays, but at first it was just speculation. The results of the investigative work of the alpine police should provide information. “We collect everything, at the end of our work there is a statement of the facts to the public prosecutor’s office in Feldkirch,” said Fitz. The authorities then have to draw their own conclusions.
