Photo/Illutration A mountain rescue team of the Nagano prefectural police heads to an avalanche site in Otari, Nagano Prefecture, on Jan. 30. (Yosuke Fukudome)

OTARI, Nagano Prefecture--Two foreign nationals were found in a state of cardiac arrest on Jan. 30 after being caught in an avalanche in an unpatrolled area near a ski resort here, prefectural police said.

The two were among five non-Japanese skiers or snowboarders who were seen swept up in an avalanche around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 29, investigative sources said.

According to police, the avalanche occurred on the eastern slope of the Tenguhara area, about 2,100 meters above sea level, on Mount Hakuba-Norikuradake.

The site is located in a backcountry, or off-piste, area between the regular skiing courses of the Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Otari and the 2,469-meter summit of the mountain.

The witnesses, also non-Japanese, contacted tourism officials who then reported the incident to police and firefighters.

Some of the other non-Japanese retrieved the five from the avalanche. Three of them descended the mountain on their own, including an Austrian in his 20s who was later taken to a hospital for a shoulder injury, police said.

But two of them, believed to be an American and an Austrian, were unconscious and remained at the site.

Around 7:15 a.m. on Jan. 30, 12 people, including the prefectural police’s rescue team members, began the operation to retrieve the two unconscious people.

After using a gondola lift to reach about 1,500 meters above sea level, they walked to the site and found the two around 10:30 a.m.

Thirteen foreign nationals in three groups had been using the ungroomed off-piste site on Jan. 29. The five had repeatedly ascended and descended the mountain, the sources said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, an avalanche advisory had been issued for Otari since the evening of Jan. 27.

The agency also issued a heavy snow warning on the night of Jan. 27. Around 40 centimeters of snow fell overnight.

The agency said the weather conditions could have triggered a “surface avalanche,” in which a layer of fresh snow slides down the harder snowpack underneath.

As of 7 p.m. on Jan. 29, the snowfall in Otari reached 103 cm.

The Hakuba area, where the avalanche occurred, attracts many backcountry skiers and snowboarders from around Japan and abroad because of its excellent snow quality and spectacular views of the Northern Alps.

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