I’ve been following the development of the Avalanche Airbag for quite a few years on this blog and am particularly keen to understand how effective they are. Despite a good number of lives saved, quite a few fatal accidents still happen. The latest tragedy was in Austria where according to news reports a British teenager was killed and his father was submerged despite them being equipped with airbags and transceivers.
A report in the British newspaper The Guardian said that a 16 year-old-boy was killed after he and his father were buried by snow. Another report said that:
Rescuers said the party were well-equipped and wearing anti-avalanche airbags, which inflated but failed to save the teenager’s life.
Our thoughts go out to the families of those involved.