An unknown number of skiers were injured after being caught in an avalanche Sunday afternoon on a mountain slope at a height of around 2,100 meters in Nagano Prefecture, local police said.
The avalanche occurred at around 2:30 p.m. in backcountry terrain outside of the Tsugaike Mountain Resort in the village of Otari, the officials said. An avalanche warning had been issued for the northern Nagano region, including the village.
The police were alerted by a foreign skier who witnessed the incident, which occurred on the eastern slope of 2,469-meter Mt. Hakuba Norikura near the border with Niigata Prefecture.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the region had experienced heavy snowfall over the past few days, and the accumulated snow had reached 103 centimeters as of 3 p.m. Sunday, compared with 77 cm on Friday night.
