Two foreign skiers missing after avalanche in Nagano, Japan

A car is covered in snow over looking Nagano city on January 25, 2023. AFP

TOKYO — 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.

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