One dead in Alto Adige avalanche - update 3

(supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Bolzano, January 6 - One man died and three people were injured, one seriously, after an enormous avalanche engulfed a group of 30 excursionists in the north-eastern Alto Adige region, sources said Tuesday. The fatality was identified as 57-year-old Hartmann Stifter, a native of the mountain town of Brunico who was a passionate skier, mountaineer, and mountain biker. The group was climbing towards the Cima della Neve peak (altitude 2,925 meters) above the Alpine mountain village of Riva di Tures in the Italian region also known as South Tyrol when the avalanche detached from the peak, causing seven smaller avalanches in a chain reaction.
    A total of eight people were engulfed, sources said. Fellow excursionists immediately freed six of them, while two others were dragged for over 300 meters.
    Police, finance guard and Alpine Rescue helicopters then airlifted some 20 excursionists out of the danger zone, and the seriously injured person was taken to hospital in the city of Bolzano. Also on Tuesday, two avalanches detached from the mountains in Val Senales area, one in Bellavista and another in Punta di Saldura, near the Lazaun mountain lodge. Mountain lovers flocked to both Val Senales and Riva di Tures in the heart of the South Tyrolean Alps because they are the only Alto Adige areas currently with snow.