Austrian church holds memorial service for Dutch tourists killed in avalanche

A memorial service at a church in Vent, Austria, honored the deaths of three Dutch people killed in an avalanche on Thursday. The avalanche took place close to the village in the Austrian state of Tirol, where just 140 people reside.

The victims, aged 33, 35 and 60, were part of a group of 17 Dutch vacationers who were on a ski tour with four Austrian mountain guides. A fourth victim was hospitalized with hypothermia. The 32-year-old man was discharged on Friday after spending the night for observation. They were accompanied by four local mountain guides who were uninjured.

Halfway through the Eucharist ceremony in the small church on the edge of the village, a call was made to pray for the sick and deceased. “We are praying for the three victims here who died in the avalanche,” said a woman who led the service at the end Saturday afternoon.

"I still get goosebumps when I think about it," said an older church visitor after the service. "It's really so terrible what happened." The avalanche took place in the ski area near the location of the village. After the accident, rescue helicopters landed right next to the church. The road to the village was full of emergency vehicles.

The bodies of the three victims were released on Friday. It is unknown when they will be sent to the Netherlands. The police are conducting a standard investigation to determine if the mountain guides acted responsibly.

Once that has been completed, a prosecutor in Innsbruck will determine whether the guides have taken unacceptable risks and should be prosecuted. Earlier, the head of the association of mountain guides said he thinks the guides did not take any risks.

On a five-point scale, the avalance risk that day was at the second lowest position, level two. That represented a "moderate" risk of avalanche. Although weather conditions were considered very good for the hiking and skiing tour in the area, there was a risk of a slab avalanche at higher elevations.

The slab that that broke loose and crashed towards the tour group measured 80 meters wide by 180 meters long, police in the area said that day. Rescue workers were delayed as a more snow and ice had to be blasted away before they could safely approach the victims.

Two Dutch people were rescued alive, and the bodies of two others were recovered. Of the two rescued, one was pronounced dead at the debris cone by medical personnel. The other was transported to a hospital 40 kilometers away.