Study | SLF - Survival chances of completely buried people increased

The number of ski tourers and off-piste skiers is likely to have increased significantly in recent decades. This is indicated by the survey of the Swiss population on their sporting behavior, even if exact figures are lacking. The avalanche accident statistics of the SLF show that the number of people buried in avalanches has also increased over the last 50 years, but the number of fatalities has remained unchanged or even decreased slightly (figure above). The survival rate of completely buried persons has risen accordingly (figure below, dark curve). In the same period, more and more buried victims were located by their comrades (figure below, light curve). Even though companion rescue played an increasingly important role in rescues, organized rescue was also called out in 90 percent of cases of avalanche incidents with completely buried victims. This figure has only fallen slightly over the past 50 years. In the last 20 years, i.e. the period in which modern rescue and communication technologies were already widespread, more than 800 people were completely buried by avalanches in open terrain. On average, they were buried for 30 minutes at a depth of 80 cm. 44 percent of those buried died. The survivors were generally buried much less deeply and, above all, for much less time than those who did not survive the accident. Almost three quarters of the survivors were located by their comrades. The chances of survival were greatest when the burial depth was shallow and body parts were visible on the surface. Without visual evidence of the burial site, efficient localization is only possible with an avalanche transceiver. If the companions succeeded in doing this, two thirds of those buried survived.