French investigators suspect that a fire that killed two people in the ski resort of Courchevel may have been an arson attack, a prosecutor said Friday.
The blaze, which ripped through a building where ski season workers were staying in the early hours of Sunday 20th, has shocked one of the most upmarket resorts in the French Alps.
It left 25 people injured, four of them seriously.
Deadly fire at Courchevel ‘may have been arson’
“We are treating seriously the theory that this could have been a criminal act, but we do not have enough evidence to be able to identify the perpetrators,” local prosecutor Anne Gaches told reporters.
Investigators believe a flammable chemical may have been used to help the fire spread, Gaches added.
“The victims smelt petrol just before the fire, and witnesses also said they had smelt petrol a month earlier,” she added.
The former hotel houses around 60 people working for a hotel company in Courchevel, which is home to many luxury resorts and numerous Michelin-starred restaurants.
A 32-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, both of whom had been working in mountainside restaurants, were killed in the fire.
The operation of the Säntis suspension railway (Säntisbahn), from the Schwägalp to the Säntis, will be closed during the next months. The reason for this is the damage to the structure of the first ropeway support, which was affected by an avalanche.
For safety reasons, the operation of the Säntis suspension railway will be suspended until further notice. Neither guests nor employees are transported by the suspension railway. the reason for this is the damage in the lower part of the cable car support. Due to an avalanche decline in the period of Sunday, January 13 and Monday, January 14, the avalanche protection of the prop and the structural construction were affected.
It cannot be said yet how big the damage to the support and the construction is. One must, however, assume that the damage is substantial, and the repair work could take months. In the worst-case scenario, the support will even have to be completely replaced. A project team of experts is currently evaluating the damage and will plan how to proceed with the risk accessed correctly.
An avalanche affected the structure of the Säntis suspension railway
The recent avalanche occurred at the time when the rescue and clearing work of the previous avalanche of 10 January was discontinued on Schwägalp and the access of the whole area was locked for all people. The reason for the interruption of this work was the heavy snowfall associated with the increased avalanche danger. Like the renewed event showed, the risk was correctly assessed by the professionals. Between the first avalanche event and the one that damaged the prop there was a snowfall of 1.5 meters of fresh snow. This strong snowfall, in combination with high wind in the peaks may have led to a renewed avalanche.
This new avalanche had less snow mass displaced than the first avalanche event. Accordingly, the snow also did not penetrate to the Schwägalp, but came to standstill before.
Due to this recent event, it is assumed that the suspension railway operation Säntis will stop for months. For the employees of the Säntis, the decision of the suspension railway has no consequences, neither financially nor with respect to their employment.
What this means for the current renovation work of the summit restaurant on the Säntis cannot be assessed at this moment. The economic effects cannot be estimated yet. However, the most important thing is to give guests and employees the highest level of safety and security.
TSV: Two skiers extracted, ‘no additional victims’
From Taos News
Two skiers were critically injured in an avalanche on Thursday (Jan. 17) near Kachina Peak, the highest point at Taos Ski Valley ski resort.
According to a press release from the resort, an “inbounds avalanche” occurred in chute three on Kachina Peak just before noon, burying two men, who have not yet been identified.
Rescuers searching the snow extracted the men just before 1 p.m. and performed CPR on them before rushing them to the base of the resort.
Avalanche buries two near Kachina Peak.
According to a report heard on Taos Central Dispatch before 3 p.m., a medic transporting one of the men in an ambulance to Holy Cross Hospital in Taos said she had “one male trauma patient,” for whom she had established an IV and an intubator, a medical device that helps a person breath when they are unconscious.
Taos County Emergency Services Chief Chris Medina said the other man was also in critical condition and was being flown by helicopter to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.
According to a press release from the ski resort, the search for others who might have been buried was called off after 2 p.m., when rescuers determined there to be “no additional victims.”
Two ski patrollers died on Sunday in the ski resort in Morillon in the Haute Savoie region of France while setting avalanche control charges before the resort opened to the public. These avalanche-control charges accidentally went off, killing them. Police are investigating the cause of this, which is rare. Ski patrollers set up controlled explosions before the slopes open to mitigate the risk of larger avalanches. You can read my previous interview to Coco Torres, former Head of Operations at Valle de Las Leñas in Argentina, about how patrollers control avalanches in this high-avalanche prone valley.
The accident took place at an altitude of 1,800 metres (6,000 feet). Forecasters at Meteo France warned of high avalanche risks in the Savoie and Hatue-Savoie regions following overnight snowfalls. The risk of avalanches was at 4 out of 5.
Two ski patrollers died in Morillon setting avalanche control charges.
These fatalities bring the number of weather-related deaths in Europe this month to at least 26, with heavy snow blanketing the Balkans and part of the Alps.
Two Bulgarian snowboarders were killed by an avalanche in the Pirin Mountains on Friday. The Bulgarian Red Cross said that the pair ignored the warnings and weather alerts and triggered the avalanche.
A 48-year old driver of a snow plough died in Germany this past Friday after his vehicle plunged into an icy river.
Three German Skiers got killed in an avalanche near the Austrian resort of Lech, the fourth skier is missing. The group was ski touring at the time.
The dead men were from the Upper Swabia area of southwestern Germany. They were found around 11 PM local time after one of their wives alerted that they were missing. They were aged 57, 36 and 32. The fourth missing person, also from southern Germany was 28.
Three German Skiers got killed in an Avalanche near the Austrian resort of Lech, fourth is missing. Photo: Reuters.
The search for this fourth person has halted due to heavy avalanche risk.
Police in the Vorarlberg province has said they have located the people through mobile phone tracking near the Lanzeg Zug slope – one of the steepest in the world.
As per the Associated Press, weather-related deaths in parts of Europe this month account to at least 24.
Austria has been hit by large snowfalls this past week, and the avalanche warning levels have gone up while local roads have been cut. The warning level above 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) was on Saturday on a scale of 3 of 5. The slope has been closed due to avalanche danger.
A British skier dies after falling 32 feet from a chairlift in the French resort of Méribel at the famous 3 Vallées
The reports say that the 65 years old man, who was not yet named by authorities, had a heart attack just before he fell. He was seating next to a female friend. She is being interviewed by the police.
Investigators want to find out if the victim might have squeezed down the metal safety bar of the chairlift that protects passengers.
The lift was a six-seater built by the company Pomagalski in 2017 that transports 2,400 per hour.
A British skier dies after falling 32 feet from a chairlift in the French resort of Méribel at the 3 Vallées. Illustrative photo.
Emergency services were called at 12.20 to the Roc-de-Tougne lift and from the six first respondents, two doctors tried to resuscitate the man for more than half an hour but unfortunately the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man suffered a heart attack and died on the slopes in the resort of Méribel.
Police are investigating whether the 65-year-old man was in cardiac arrest before falling 32 feet from the chairlift.
140 people evacuated from chairlift at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
Whitefish Mountain Resort Photo. The Ski Patrol Dog “Jett” found his toy – training for avalanche rescue by ski patrols. Whitefish Mountain Resort got 140 people evacuated from chairlift.
On Saturday a Montana Ski Resort representative said that 140 people had to be evacuated from a chairlift due to a mechanical problem that made the operators to stop the lift.
It took 2 ½ hours to remove all people from Chair 5 in Whitefish Mountain Resort on Saturday. The officials decided to evacuate the passengers because it would take time to repair the chairlift. Some of the passengers were lowered from the lift with cables and harnesses. Temperatures were in the high teens and the winds were of about 10 mph (16 km/hour) at the moment.
A Gondola Accident happened in Hochzillertal today.
From Unofficial Networks and Euro News.
A
frightening incident unfolded this morning in Kaltenbach, Austria. Several
10-passenger gondolas on the”Wimbachexpress” at Hochzillertal got hung up on a
tower and collided into one another. According to reports, the gondola cars
were empty at the time and no one was injured. It is believed that high winds
from a strong storm ranging across the Alps played a roll in the accident.
The-Ski-Guru TRAVEL can organise your bespoke ski trip to the Americas, Alps or Japan, including for those going from Britain to Europe, booking your Eurotunnel trip, and for all trips: lodging, lift tickets, rentals, ski school, and all you need for an excellent vacation. Go to https://www.the-ski-guru.com/travel and upload your information – this page will be updated soon with more travel ideas.
A couple of lifts were sabotaged on Passo Rolle on the night of November 30th, between Friday and Saturday, on the eve of the opening of the season.
The first lift that the operators realised has been sabotaged during a test drive, was the Ferrari lift. The lift has to remain closed for opening day. One of the six trefoil, cables that make up the rope, has been cut. Checks were also taking place on the Paradiso lift, next to the Ferrari lift.
This has been a ‘considerable damage, changing the rope of that type costs hundreds of thousands of Euros’ said the President of the Engineering company Giacobbe Zortea, ‘but we will not die, we will guarantee the safety of the facilities for tourists and operators of the Passo (Rolle)’.
A couple of lifts were sabotaged in Passo Rolle.
It is ‘fair’, he concluded, that these people pay for an ‘irresponsible gesture’.
Complaints were immediately raised to the Carabinieri of Primiero, which together with the colleagues of the Compagnia di Cavalese, have arrived at the site for an inspection. They were assessing the site soonafter, investigating the damage done.
A gas explosion occurred early Friday afternoon in the kitchen of the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof in Zermatt (VS), which was still closed before the start of the season. Six people were injured. The Grand Hotel Zermatterhof is the iconic hotel in the middle of the town of Zermatt, one of the most renown iconic hotels there. You can read more of Zermatt in our recent guide here.
#explosiongaz – 13:45 – Zermatt – gas explosion in the kitchen of a hotel – several-injured – fire-mastered – assistance on site – no danger for the population – Info will follow – Polcant VS
— Police in Valais (@PoliceValais) November 30, 2018
The Zermatterof is one of the most renown hotels in Zermatt – in the middle of town, in the Dorfstrasse, as shown in this picture. A gas explosion has taken place Friday at the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof.
The severity of the injuries of the six people, including five kitchen employees, is not yet known, said Keystone-ATS Fernando Clemenz of the Matterhorn Group. The people affected have been delivered to hospitals in Sion, Visp and doctors of the station.
Forty firefighters, two helicopters and two ambulances were dispatched on the spot. The fire was quickly mastered. The population incurs no danger, said the police cantonale valaisanne.
Am Freitagnachmittag ist es in der Küche des Grand Hotels Zermatterhof im Zentrum von #Zermatt zu einer Explosion gekommen. Sechs Personen wurden dabei verletzt und mussten sich in ärztliche Behandlung begeben. https://t.co/oj8FOVLHrM
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