Deadly avalanche in Ecuador’s mountain leaves four dead and one injured
The Ecuadorian authorities continue to search and rescue the mountaineers in Chimborazo.
Photo: LUIS ROBAYO / Getty Images
An avalanche on Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest mountain, left at least four climbers dead and one person injured. Local authorities reported that search and rescue efforts continue, so no rule out that the number of deaths increases with the passing of the hours.
“At the moment the presence of four deceased people and one wound is confirmed“, Reported the ECU-911 in a message on social networks after noting that search and rescue work continues in the area of the event.
In addition, it reported that it has coordinated the assistance of specialized personnel from the Armed Forces to collaborate with the search tasks.
He indicated that members of the Quito Fire Department have been mobilized to the place, where a Unified Command Post (PMU) has been set up among the different entities participating in the rescue.
The source indicated that the group of tourists was affected by adverse weather conditions in the Chimborazo area (6,268 meters high), the highest mountain in the country, located in the Andean province of the same name, where several peaks and massifs of great attraction for climbers and visitors converge.
According to ECU-911, the group, of about twelve people who climbed Chimborazo this morning and they were at about 6,100 meters of altitude, he was surprised by an avalanche.
Personnel from the Special Operations Group of the Police and the Fire Department of the area were the first to go to the area to rescue tourists and had the support of guards from the Ministry of the Environment and a helicopter from the police air service. .
At the same time, the ECU-911 reported that members of the GOE of the Police and the fire department work in the rescue of another group of 20 tourists who presented symptoms of hypothermia, while doing mountaineering in the neighboring snowy El Altar, 5,319 meters above sea level and located in the same province.
That group, in which no fatalities were reported, was taken to a nearby ranch to undergo medical examinations by personnel from the Ministry of Public Health, ECU-911 added in its statement.
Read also:
–La Palma volcano in Spain has been erupting for 5 weeks with a series of earthquakes
–Part of the cone of the La Palma volcano collapsed after a magnitude 4.9 earthquake
–Japan maintains level 3 alert after Mount Aso eruption
.
