Seven students, teacher killed in avalanche at ski resort  

March 28, 2017

Nasu, Tochigi Pref.- Seven high school students and a teacher were confirmed dead after being engulfed by an avalanche at a ski resort in the town of Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Monday.

The avalanche occurred near Nasu Onsen Family Ski Resort’s second slope around 8:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. Sunday GMT), when a total of 55 high school students and others were practicing opening up trails in deep snow near the slope as part of a mountaineering training course, according to local authorities.

The seven students and the teacher were from prefecture-run Otawara High School in the Tochigi city of Otawara. Forty other people were injured in the avalanche, including two students with serious wounds.

The Tochigi prefectural police are investigating teachers who attended the training for possible professional negligence resulting in the deaths and injuries. A local meteorological observatory on Sunday issued an avalanche warning for northern areas of the prefecture, including Nasu.

A total of 62 students and teachers from seven high schools were participating in the three-day spring mountaineering training course in Nasu from Saturday, according to the prefectural government. Jiji Press