VIENNA: A series of avalanches in Austria has left three people dead since Friday, as the ski season gets into full swing, with authorities warning of the risks posed by a particularly unstable snow cover.
“One winter sports enthusiast was killed in an avalanche in Kaltenbach on Saturday,” a police spokesman told AFP, declining to give any information about the circumstances of the accident in the small Alpine village.
According to the Austrian news agency APA, the victim was a 17-year-old New Zealander who was skiing off-piste.
On Friday, a 32-year-old Chinese man, also said to be skiing away from the designated routes, died in an avalanche in the resort of Soelden.
A third victim was found dead Saturday after being reported missing the previous day.
APA reported that the man was 50 years old and died in the Kleinwalsertal valley on the border with Germany.
Over the past two days, intensive snowfall and wind have increased the avalanche danger in the Alpine Tyrol and Vorarlberg regions.
Warnings have been issued in both these popular ski resort regions, urging winter sports enthusiasts to exercise caution.
However an alert level four, on a scale of five, has not prevented many holidaymakers from venturing off the marked slopes, authorities said.
The avalanche situation also led to numerous rescue operations on Saturday, made hazardous by the weather conditions.
The February school holidays have begun in Vienna and resorts have filled up, after a gloomy start to the season, marked by the absence of snow at low and medium altitudes.
In recent years, in Austria, a leading winter sports destination, there have been an annual average of 20 deaths on the slopes.
Austrian avalanches leave three dead
https://arab.news/8wte2
Austrian avalanches leave three dead
- "One winter sports enthusiast was killed in an avalanche in Kaltenbach on Saturday," said a police spokesman
- A 32-year-old Chinese man, also said to be skiing away from the designated routes, died in an avalanche in the resort of Soelden
Fourth pair of Filipino twins set to fly to Riyadh next week for separation surgery
- Born in April 2024, Olivia and Gianna Manuel are joined from the chest to the abdomen
- Their mother learned about Saudi Conjoined Twins Program from social media updates
MANILA: As they prepare to travel to Riyadh next week for separation surgery, the parents of Olivia and Gianna Manuel have renewed hopes that their children will grow up like others, as they have become the fourth pair of Filipino twins to be taken care of by the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program.
The girls from the town of Talavera in the central Philippine province of Nueva Ecija were born in April 2024.
They are joined from the chest to the abdomen, a condition known as omphalopagus.
“They can’t eat properly. It’s really difficult for them. When one is lying down, the other often gets pinned down because the bigger one is very hyper. The smaller one is usually underneath,” the children’s mother, Ginalyn Manuel, told Arab News.
“When they’re lying down or sleeping, even if one still wants to sleep, she’s forced to wake up because the other keeps moving.”
She first learned about the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program when she followed social media updates on Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph, the second pair of Filipino twins to undergo separation surgery in Saudi Arabia.
At that time, she was still in the hospital with the girls, closely monitored by doctors for three months after they were born. She then reached out to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which runs the conjoined twins program, and in July last year, a hospital in Riyadh got in touch with her.
After various steps of medical qualification, the Saudi Embassy in Manila announced the girls would soon travel to the Kingdom with their parents to undergo the separation procedure.
They are scheduled to fly to Riyadh on Jan. 26.
“Out of so many people, we were given the chance for our twins to be separated. If it were just us, we really couldn’t afford it. The help from the Saudi government is truly enormous,” Manuel said.
“I imagine them playing here, already apart, walking on their own. It feels so good just thinking about it. That’s what I always include in my prayers — that their separation surgery will be successful.”
Saudi Arabia is known as a pioneer in the field of separation surgery. KSrelief was established by King Salman in 2015 and is headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most renowned pediatric surgeons.
Since 1990, he and his team have separated more than 140 children from 27 countries who were born sharing internal organs with their twins.
The first pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Ann and Mae Manzo, were separated under the program in March 2004. They were joined at the abdomen, pelvis and perineum.
They were followed by the Yusoph twins, who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared one liver. Their successful separation procedure was in September 2024.
The third pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Maurice Ann and Klea Misa, who are joined at the head, flew to Riyadh in May and are currently being prepared for their surgery.
