Four Dead in Norway After Avalanches

1st April 2023

Last modified on April 5th, 2023

A series of avalanches in the north of Norway have claimed the lives of four people. It is an area popular for ski touring and people are advised to exercise caution under current conditions.

Two tourists were killed in two separate avalanches, one in the Lyngen area and the other in Nordreisa.

One is Italian ad the other person was from Slovenia.

In the first avalanche in Lyngen, one person died and two others were hurt.

A party of five Italians was caught up in an avalanche in Lyngen.

“There were five people of foreign origin that were on an outing in the area. We can confirm that one person is deceased,” said local police.

One of the injured is in a critical condition in hospital and the other has moderate injuries.

In the other fatal incident a person was killed in another avalanche at Storslett in the Nordreisa area.

The authrities say the deceased was part of a group of six Slovenians.

No further details are available.

In a third avalanche two people died when a farmhouse and barn were swept into the sea on the island of Reinøya.

And two bodies were discovered at a farm in Reinoya, the barn was home to a herd of around 140 goats.

The Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, has described the deaths as a “tragic start to Easter”.

“The situation is serious and still unclear,” he said.

“It is now very important to follow advice from the authorities and aid corps not to go out to areas with danger warnings.

“There is a significant risk of avalanches in several parts of the country, and I therefore encourage everyone to follow NVE’s avalanche warnings,” Støre added.

On Friday a number of small towns in the Troms region were evacuated because of the high risk of avalanches.

There remains a high risk of avalanches in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.

The police are advising people not to travel to the mountains.

The risk in some places is Level 4, meaning there is a ‘high’ chance of avalanches.

The avalanches have happened at the beginning of Norway’s long Easter break which is traditionally a time when Norwegians make the most of the ‘last chance’ for skiing.