A snow avalanche in the last few hours on Mount Aragats, the highest in Armenia, has left a Spanish mountaineer dead and seven others injured, although they have been hospitalised and their lives are not in danger, as confirmed by the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares.
Several Spanish media outlets reported that the avalanche affected an expedition made up of nine Catalans, including three firefighters from the Catalan government. Eight of them were rescued, seven of whom had to be hospitalised with minor injuries, while the eighth was unharmed. The deceased was buried under the snow, and although he was located by Armenian rescuers, the Catalan authorities have finally confirmed his death.
‘I can confirm that, thanks to the collaboration with the Armenian authorities, eight of the nine have already been rescued. Seven are in Armenian hospitals and one is perfectly, collaborating with the authorities to find the ninth,’ declared hours before Minister Albares speaking from the Senate headquarters in Madrid, adding that two helicopters had been sent to participate in the rescue. The minister said then that he was monitoring the situation on the ground through diplomatic representatives in Armenia, and trying to provide all possible assistance.
On the other hand, the Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat (Catalan autonomous government) Nuria Parlon declared that they were ‘following up on the accident from the very beginning’ and confirmed that three of the victims are firefighters. Parlon also thanked ‘the Armenian rescue teams for their work’ adding that she was ‘available to the families’.
The Armenian authorities received the distress call at around 15:26 local time (11:26 CET) on Tuesday. The accident apparently occurred on the north face of Mount Aragats, an ancient volcano currently inactive located in the west of Armenia with a height of over 4,000 metres. Local authorities had previously warned that there was a risk of avalanches above 2,500 metres in the area, due to the rise in temperatures expected from Tuesday onwards.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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