Avalanche in Kurdistan Province Claims the Lives of Six Mountaineers

Three consecutive avalanches occurred last week in the heights of Haftash in Kurdistan Province, claiming the lives of six mountaineers and leaving one injured. According to Ali Akbar Varmaqi, the deputy governor of Kurdistan, the seven mountaineers were buried under the avalanche on Friday evening, March 1st. He stated, "Two groups of local mountaineers had ascended to the Haftash heights, 40 kilometers from Baneh, and faced three consecutive avalanches on their way back, burying seven mountaineers under the snow." Among them, two mountaineers were victims and one was injured on Friday, while four other mountaineers were recovered from under the snow on Saturday. The six mountaineers from Baneh who lost their lives on this trip have been identified as Omid Abdollahi, Ronak Daneshmand, Karvan Ahmadpour, Khalagh Mohammadnejad, Shahla Rahmani, and Yasa Samadqi. Over the past week, snowfall and rain, along with a drop in temperature in some provinces of Iran, led to the closure of offices and schools in most provinces of the country, according to forecasts from the Meteorological Organization. With the drop in temperature and heavy snowfall, many mountainous areas in Iran also experienced heavy snowfall and avalanches. Last January, an avalanche in the heights of Tehran, Oshnavieh, and Meshginshahr resulted in casualties among mountaineers. A month prior, local officials in Lorestan announced that rescue teams had found the bodies of five missing mountaineers under an avalanche in the heights of Oshtorankouh.