American girl buried under avalanche for 40 minutes, in critical condition.
According to the UK's Daily Mail on February 9, around 5:30 pm local time on February 8, a small avalanche occurred near the Tibble Fork Reservoir in fork County, Utah, USA. Ashleigh Cox, a 21-year-old female college student who was engaging in sports activities in the area at the time, was unfortunately buried under snow for 40 minutes. She was rushed to hospital after being rescued and is currently still in critical condition.
It is reported that the girl is from Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, and is studying at Brigham Young University in Utah. That day, she and her friends went to the reservoir area for "snowshoeing." Midway, they were suddenly caught in an avalanche and pushed into a stream, becoming trapped under the snow. Rescue personnel arrived at the scene 20 minutes after the accident, and it took another 20 minutes to successfully locate Ashleigh, who had no heartbeat or breathing at that time. She regained consciousness at the local Fork Hospital and was later transferred to a medical center in Provo for further treatment.
The county sheriff said that although the avalanche was not very large, it was powerful enough to sweep people away. Before the incident, the Utah Avalanche Center had issued a red warning, and by 4 pm, the center issued another notice stating that several areas had become avalanche hazard zones. Local highways 92 and 114 were closed due to the avalanche.