Searchers Find Another Body After Avalanche

After death toll rises to 3, Idaho resort says all skiers are accounted for
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2020 6:00 PM CST
Death Toll Reaches 3 After Idaho Avalanche
Skiers walk away from Silver Mountain after an avalanche hit the resort Tuesday.   (Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review via AP)

Search-and-rescue teams thought they'd accounted for everyone who was skiing when an avalanche hit a resort in Idaho on Tuesday. But Silver Mountain Resort got a call Wednesday morning saying a family hadn't heard from relative who was there, NBC reports. The search resumed, and on Thursday, crews spotted a body from a helicopter, per Q13. That raised the death toll to three people; four people were injured. "There are no more missing people reported," the resort posted on Facebook, "and rescue teams are returning to the base."

Three avalanches hit, the sheriff's office said. One skier had just punched a hole for air after being buried by the first avalanche when there was a second. "Just this rush of weight and snow came over, covered the hole that I had cleared for air," Bill Fuzak said, adding that he then heard "this sick sound of everything coming to a stop." Eventually, he passed out. "Next thing I knew, I felt snow being brushed away from my face and I heard voices." He'd been in the snow for about 50 minutes. "It was just amazing the effort that was made to save us," Fuzak said. (More avalanche stories.)

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