Two people have been confirmed dead after their bodies were recovered after an avalanche in Japan, police said on Friday, a day after an off-piste accident in the central Nagano region.
Japanese authorities declined to identify the pair, but US ski magazine Mountain Gazette reported that one of the dead was American professional skier Kyle Smaine.
Two people who were traveling with Smaine posted an Instagram update saying they were killed in the avalanche.
Emergency rescue teams “confirmed the deaths of the two men”, a local police spokesman told AFP.
The identity or nationality will be released after a full ID check, he added.
‘Buried and killed’
The two missing men had been outside the patrolled area of the ski resort in the village of Otari along with several other skiers and snowboarders when the avalanche struck on Sunday.
The others were able to return down the mountain, but two foreigners were still missing on Sunday night.
Also read: One dead due to heavy snow and record cold in Japan
According to the Mountain Gazette, Smaine, 31, had been with fellow professional skier Adam U and the publication’s senior photographer Grant Gunderson when he died.
“Yesterday was my worst nightmare scenario,” Gunderson wrote in an Instagram post published Monday.
He said the avalanche had been triggered by a skier, and Smaine was “thrown 50 meters by the air blast and buried and killed”.
Landslide warning
Last week, a cold snap blanketed much of Japan in heavy snow, including Nagano, which attracts many overseas tourists during the ski season.
Avalanche warnings and snow warnings are currently in effect for the area.
Also read: Thousands in shelters as ‘dangerous’ typhoon hits Japan
Fans were quick to leave tributes to Smaine in a video posted to Instagram on Sunday showing him skiing off-piste.
“This is what brings me back to Japan every winter. The unbelievable quality of the snow, the non-stop storms, and the fun terrain that looks better (the) more exploring you do,” he wrote in the comments accompanying the video .