Avalanche hits 8 skiers in Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture

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TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- An avalanche hit eight people who had been skiing off regular slopes at a ski resort in Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture on Thursday, with one found unconscious near a ski field, local authorities said.

One of the eight tourists who managed to get out of the avalanche descended the mountain before making an emergency call around 3:50 p.m. local time in the village of Shimukappu, according to the police. One of them, believed to be a French national, is in critical condition while the others have minor injuries.

This is the latest in a series of accidents in Japan involving backcountry skiing which is popular among foreign tourists, but can be extremely dangerous.

In January 2019, a Danish skier was rescued by a helicopter in the central prefecture of Nagano, but was later pronounced dead.

In January 2018, a Japanese man was killed in an avalanche when he was snowboarding near a ski slope. Enditem

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