Russian killed, 4 rescued as avalanche hits Gulmarg

A Russian skier died and four others were rescued after they were swept away by an avalanche in a resort at Kashmir Valley’s Gulmarg.

“One Russian skier has come under avalanche in Gulmarg and died on spot. Four more skiers of the group were rescued,” Jammu and Kashmir police wrote on microblogging site Twitter on Friday.

The tourism officials said that the avalanche hit the area at Shinmai bowl in the upper reaches of Gulmarg, situated at about 3,500 metres above the sea level. The victim has been identified as Stanislav who, a statement issued by the J& K tourism department said, had “ventured into the back country area where advisories were already issued”.

“The deceased was a part of group of five skiers who moved to Shinmai bowl despite strict avalanche warnings by the department,” it said.

The officials said the ski patrol team rescued four others from the avalanche, but Stanislav had already died. They said that the Russian group had boarded the Gondola, the world’s second highest operating cable car which takes skiers to a height of 3,747 metres on Kongdoori Mountain, at around 11.30 am on Friday and was hit by avalanche at noon. The group had arrived in Delhi on February 13 and reached Gulmarg next day.

This is second such incident that took place at Gulmarg in past four weeks.

On January 18, a Swedish skier was killed while another was rescued in injured condition by police and tourism officials after an avalanche struck Gulmarg. The 25year- old victim had been identified by his first name Daniel. The other skier who was rescued by the police was also a Swedish named Benjamin Asbers.