The Army is going to trigger avalanches in Tamok Valley
The Norwegian Army is going to attempt to blast away the snow masses in the Tamok Valley to secure the search area where the four supposedly dead Scandinavian top tourists are located.
According to the sheriff in Central Troms, Andreas Nilsen, the Norwegian Armed Forces starts the work from Bardufoss in Troms at 9 am on Tuesday morning.
“The plan is to make some detonations with regular explosives to trigger avalanches during the morning. There is still a large danger of Avalanches in the area, and if we can secure the area sufficiently during the day, we must make renewed assessments,” Nilsen tells NTB.
After the blasting attempt, additional investigations will be performed by avalanche experts, which may confirm, or disprove of, avalanche safety in the area. According to Nilsen, it will then be considered whether more avalanches will be triggered or whether nature must be allowed to take its course.
Keen to get going
“We are keen to get into position to dig as fast as possible. In all avalanche accidents, we want to retrieve the dead. It is a little bit time-critical to get them out now that we have an overview of where the four are. There has not fallen much snow, either,” Nilsen continues.
Nilsen further states that it is unlikely that ground crew will enter the avalanche area on Tuesday. That is more likely to happen on Wednesday if the blasting away goes according to plan.
The Finnish nationals Mikael Sten (29), Niklas Nyman (36), André Stenfors (32) and the Swede, Disa Bäckström (29), are believed to have perished in the avalanche, which occurred on Wednesday, January 2nd – nearly 2 weeks ago. They were on a top trip to Blåbærfjellet in the Tamok Valley. They were last confirmed to be observed at around 2 pm. After a few hours, a fifth person of the tour group became worried and informed the police.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
