Recovery efforts to continue for eight deceased and one presumed deceasedpublished at 21:39 GMT<\/p>\n
21:39 GMT<\/p>\n
Officials have confirmed that they have located eight deceased, with one additional person presumed dead, during search and rescue efforts for a group of 15 skiers following an avalanche in California.<\/p>\n
The survivors and deceased<\/p>\n
There were 15 people in total forming part of the group of skiers following a clarification that one person had backed out of the trip at the last moment. Six survivors have been rescued, eight others have been found deceased and the last individual is presumed dead. The survivors and the bodies of the deceased were all found close together.<\/p>\n
Today’s conference also outlined that one of the deceased is a spouse of a search and rescue team member – other details have been given on the genders of the group but no identities have been released to the public yet.<\/p>\n
The search and rescue efforts<\/p>\n
Officials today confirmed that the mission has turned from rescue to recovery – with those individuals remaining on the mountain either deceased or presumed deceased.<\/p>\n
The eight deceased remain in the avalanche area although rescuers have sought to move them to a space from where they can be more readily recovered.<\/p>\n
The current conditions<\/p>\n
The rescue team has had to take a “slow and steady” pace with difficult conditions and a continued high risk of avalanche.<\/p>\n
The original avalanche stemmed from a persistent weak layer which had a large load of snow on it. This layer has since reloaded with snow and the hazard remains high, the conference was told.<\/p>\n
We are concluding our live coverage now.<\/p>\n