Skier Saves Two Brothers From Helicopter Swept Away in Avalanche
A British skier saved the lives of two brothers during a fatal helicopter crash in the Swiss Alps. The harrowing incident occurred on Tuesday, after six adventurers reached the mountain’s peak in their Air-Glaciers B3-type helicopter.
Shortly after the party arrived at the summit, roughly 1,200 feet above sea level, a major avalanche gave way right above the helicopter, reports The Daily Telegraph. As the thrush of snow picked the craft up and began carrying it down the side of the mountain, British skier Edward Courage employed some quick thinking. He pulled Teddy and Guy Hitchens from the helicopter, launching himself along with the two men as far from the plummeting aircraft as possible.
The three men continued to fall down the steep slope, but were saved from crashing along with the helicopter’s wreckage. The three other occupants—pilot Jerome Lovey, tour guide Adam George, and skier James Goff—all tragically died in the crash.
Another skier who landed on the opposite side of the summit shortly after and witnessed the fatal crash described it as "horrific."
"We landed after them on the south side of Le Petit Combin and saw the avalanche. It was horrific," the witness recalled. "We couldn’t make out the helicopter, it was consumed in the avalanche. We heard of the crash over the radio. We were advised to get safely off the mountain.”
A major rescue operation was launched, and the Hitchens brothers were found a significant distance from the wreckage site shortly after the crash. It took much longer to find Courage, who was trapped for nearly five hours as rescuers tried to free him. After falling from the helicopter, he slid more than 1,600 feet down a “near vertical slope,” before being launched into a crevice nearly 100 feet deep. Luckily, he was carrying a transceiver which pinged his location for rescuers.
Courage was airlifted to a nearby hospital with broken bones.
Richard and Maeve Hitchens, the parents of Guy and Teddy, issued a statement to the Telegraph mourning the loss of their sons’ companions. They also offered an update on the brothers’ condition.
"Ted was released from hospital today on crutches. Guy is still in hospital," they stated. "No operations currently required, but [he’s] severely beaten up and bed-bound.”
The incident is currently being investigated by both the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which handles aviation cases, and the Swiss Safety Investigation Service.