(C) Swissinfo

VIENNA — Austria is mourning the loss of eight lives following a string of devastating avalanches in the mountainous regions of Styria and Salzburg on Saturday, January 17th. Local media, including the country’s largest daily Kronen Zeitung, have dubbed the day “Black Saturday” due to the high death toll.

In the Styria region, three people were confirmed dead after an avalanche struck near Pusterwald on Saturday afternoon.

The tragedy continued in the western province of Salzburg, where two separate avalanches claimed five more lives, according to national broadcaster ORF. The first incident occurred shortly after noon at an altitude of 2,200 meters in Bad Hofgastein, burying one victim under a vast field of snow.

A second, more severe slide took place in the Finsterkopf canyon area. Seven individuals were swept away by the snow; rescue teams later recovered four bodies, while three people miraculously survived the ordeal.

A massive rescue operation was launched immediately, involving multiple helicopters, search-and-rescue dogs, mountain police, and emergency medical teams. Gerhard Kremser, head of the regional mountain rescue service, expressed his deepest condolences to the victims' families, noting that the scale of the tragedy underscores the extreme severity of the conditions.

While other winter sports enthusiasts were reported to have been caught in smaller slides across the region that same day, no further casualties were reported.

In response to the volatile conditions, the Salzburg Avalanche Warning Center has raised the alert level to "Level 3" (Considerable Danger), urging extreme caution for anyone traveling in the alpine backcountry.