Four inland skiers were killed in an avalanche on Saturday in Utah and four others were injured, officials said.
The area was on high avalanche risk alert when authorities were called to the Mill Creek Canyon area outside of Salt Lake City, the sergeant said. Melody Cutler, of the Great Salt Lake Unified Police Department.
A group of five skiers and another with three appeared to trigger an avalanche that buried all eight in the snow, she said, adding that some were able to go out and rescue others. But four did not survive.
“This is a terrible tragedy and our prayers go out to the victims and families involved,” Governor Spencer Cox tweeted. “We are grateful to first aid and others who have been involved in this rescue and recovery effort.”
It was the state’s deadliest avalanche since 1992, when a skier set off an avalanche that killed four people in the Moab area, according to the Utah Avalanche Center.
Two other fatal avalanches occurred in Utah this year.
On Wednesday in Colorado, first aid recovered the bodies of three skiers buried in an avalanche.
