It was buried under the avalanche at Riksgränsen – Expressen

A man buried by an avalanche on Sunday – and was under the snow for ten minutes.

The avalanche went between Björkliden and Riksgränsen in the north of Sweden and the man cared for during the afternoon on hospital after being rescued by a woman.

– the avalanche was estimated to be 100 meters wide and 200 meters long, says Mikael Norén, duty officer at the police in Norrbotten.

It was just after 11 o’clock on Sunday as rescue services in Kiruna called to the scene. A man had been buried under the snow masses after an avalanche passed between Björkliden and Riksgränsen.

While the police were called in and a massive rescue operation was started – and when the man found he was conscious.

– it was fortunately fine, we drove the man to the hospital, although he was reluctant initially, says Mikael Norén

the avalanche will according to police information to have started when a man and a woman climbed up a steep. The woman managed to stay on top of the avalanche and had snow only up to the waist.

was taken to hospital

Unfortunately, it was then for the man who was buried and one leg sticking out of the snow. According to the police managed to woman digging up the man and call for help before a police patrol took him to Kiruna Hospital for verification.

– No more people there were so lucky was in the area, there were only these two people, said Mikael Noren.

the area between Björkliden and Riksgränsen is one area where it is often served notice of avalanches. It may, among other things, just run a certain speed at the section of road.

– You should be very careful when it snows a lot, then there is a risk of avalanches. Even small ones can be very dangerous, says Mikael Norén.

Anders Berg Wall at Arcticguides is part of the avalanche group in the area and was contacted in connection with the avalanche was triggered.

He says that it was fortunate that no one was hurt and that several groups had to turn back after people had found relatively quickly.

– We needed, for example, no avalanche dogs this time, dogs specialize in finding people after avalanches have triggered, says Anders Berg Wall.

“A couple of avalanches every year”

He says that avalanches occur frequently in the mountain region, but it is often not a few people in the area. In recent years it has become more that somehow triggered by people.

– It takes a couple of pieces every year, in recent years we have seen several that are triggered due to driving scooter in the area . In this case, there have been about ice climbers in the area, he said.

To avoid avalanches is easier said than done. According to Anders Bergenwall requires a lot of knowledge, but he urges all who venture out in the mountains to keep track of avalanche forecasting, thus avoiding self trigger an avalanche.

– Even though the avalanche risk only two on a five-point scale, which means moderate risk, there is the potential that people can trigger an avalanche. It triggered today should have contained a lot of boulders, which makes it even more dangerous, he said.