Two foreign skiers missing after avalanche in Nagano, Japan
World
The local police had resumed their search shortly after 7 a.m. on Monday.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Rescuers in Japan were searching for two foreign men on Monday after they were caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing in central Japan’s Nagano Prefecture a day earlier, local police said.
Three other foreign skiers hit by the snow slide, which occurred at around 2:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba Norikura, had been able to climb down the mountain on their own, a police spokesperson said.
The local police had resumed their search shortly after 7 a.m. on Monday for the two missing skiers, whose nationalities were still unknown, the spokesperson told Reuters. They were part of two separate groups skiing on the 2,469 m (8,100 foot) mountain.
The region had experienced heavy snowfall in the previous few days, and the Japan Metrological Agency had issued an avalanche warning at the time the avalanche occurred.
