Police release names of skiers killed by avalanche in northern Norway
Police in northern Norway on Monday announced the names of three Finns and one Swede who died under an avalanche on 2 January. They also released photos of the three Finnish men, with permission from their families.
The Finnish victims were Mikael Sten (29), Niklas Nyman (36) and André Stenfors (32). The Swedish victim was Disa Bäckström, 29. The Finns were from Swedish-speaking areas of Ostrobothnia, on the west coast.
The four have been missing since last Wednesday, when there was a large avalanche close to the summit of Blåbærfjellet mountain, a 1442m peak in the Tamok valley.
On Friday, a helicopter detected signals from two transmitters under the avalanche. Rescuers saw ski tracks heading into, but not back out of the avalanche area.
Search efforts have been hampered by difficult, windy weather and avalanche risk, which continued on Monday.
Related stories from around the North:
Finland: Warnings in Lapland after fatal avalanche in Sweden, Yle News
Norway: Norway beefs up border patrol with powerful new snowmobiles, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Avalanche warning to snowmobilers in Swedish mountains, Radio Sweden
