British teenager dies in avalanche in front of twin brother while skiing at Austrian resort

 
Ski tragedy: the resort of Lech am Arlberg in Austria
C720NP SKIERS, SKI PISTE, LECH AM ARLBERG, VORARLBERG, AUSTRIA. Image shot 2011. Exact date unknown. EDITION PIC 18/12/2013 ONE USE ONLY

A British teenager has been killed in an avalanche in front of his twin brother while skiing in Austria.

The 16-year-old was engulfed in snow along with his father and a ski guide in the resort of Lech am Arlberg.

His twin was unhurt and watched the tragedy unfold in front of him as the four skied off-piste.

Police said the guide would now face a criminal investigation for not following an authorised route.

It is believed the skiers were all equipped with avalanche airbags, a safety device that skiers can deploy in the event of an avalanche, but they failed to prevent them being buried.

The 39-year-old guide, who suffered minor injuries, was the first to surface from the snow and immediately began a rescue operation.

He had been carried along with the snow for 150 metres before it settled. He pulled himself free and immediately made an emergency call, before starting to work with the surviving teenager to look for his relatives.

The father of the twins, a 51-year-old Briton, was pulled alive badly injured and flown to hospital, while the 16-year-old died at the scene.

The family were from Winchester but their names have not yet been were not revealed as relatives are still being contacted.

The incident occurred at 13.24 on Tuesday as the group headed to the small ski resort of Stierlochbach.

Local police said the route which the group had been taking when they were hit was not an authorised one and confirmed the ski instructor was being investigated on charges of “negligence leading to serious injury with fatal consequences”.

A police spokesman said: “The route they were on was according to our information not authorised. It was not allowed to go there, and the ski instructor that was responsible for the group and had an obligation not to take risks is under investigation.”

At the time of the accident the region had issued only a category 1 avalanche warning, meaning there was a very low risk of an avalanche.

But experts said the category was deceptive and it could nevertheless mean a risk of sudden avalanches.

Andreas Pecl from the Avalanche Warning Service in Vorarlberg, said: “As far as I am aware, the area was part of the region where there is no organised skiing, but that it is possible to ski there if you go there at your own risk. But we will know more once we have visited the site.”

He said conditions meant there was very little snow so it was compressed, resulting in the low warning category, the lowest possible apart from 0 which means “no snow”.

“The only lower category is 0 and we only have that in the summer. Even with a category 1 alert, people need to be aware that there are areas where it is nevertheless extremely dangerous. In addition it shows that even for people that are properly equipped, when there is an avalanche, there are no guarantees. Both of the injured had the avalanche air bags but it did not prevent this tragedy.”

Three helicopters helped in the rescue, “Christophorus C8”, the “Alpin 3” and the Interior Ministry’s “Libelle 1”.

Lech am Arlberg is in Austria’s Vorarlberg state, a popular skiing area in western Austria.

It is the same resort where 43-year-old Dutch prince Johan Friso, second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, was killed after skiing off-piste with a guide.

He was buried for 20 minutes in an avalanche and remained in a coma for 18 months until he died.

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