One person is feared to have been killed while two others were rescued after the three men were hit by an avalanche in Idaho on Thursday, authorities said.
Law enforcement received a GPS alert of a “possible fatality” near Stevens Peak—located near the Montana border—in the afternoon, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said. A “rescue effort to retrieve three males that were believed to have been caught in an avalanche” was launched in response.
The United States Air Force, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, the Silver Valley Search and Rescue, and the Silver Mountain Ski Patrol all joined the rescue effort. At some point, authorities were able to “establish communications with two of the individuals through a GPS texting device.”
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The line of communication helped the search crews locate two of the three men, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that the survivors were taken for medical care. “While debriefing the two males, we received information causing us to believe the third male was deceased at the site of the avalanche,” the sheriff’s office added.
“Due to this information, we have concluded our search efforts for the safety of all those involved for this evening,” authorities said. “We will be conducting a retrieval mission for the third male in the morning of January 12, 2024.”
