Tra­gic news from the ava­lan­che yes­ter­day in Lon­gye­ar­by­en: one of the child­ren that were brought to the uni­ver­si­ty hos­pi­tal in Trom­sø yes­ter­day died today. The two other child­ren are less sever­ely inju­red.

The death toll of the ava­lan­che thus rises to two: 42 years old Atle Hus­by and a child. Atle Husby’s name was published today after appr­oval by his fami­ly.

The evacua­ti­on of many hou­ses on Longyearbyen’s eas­tern side, near the moun­tain Suk­ker­top­pen and in Nyby­en, will be kept for an uncer­tain peri­od until fur­ther noti­ce. About 180 per­sons are curr­ent­ly not able to return to their homes. An extra flight was ope­ra­ted today evening to give peo­p­le an oppor­tu­ni­ty to get to their fami­lies in main­land Nor­way and else­whe­re. Peo­p­le direct­ly affec­ted by the ava­lan­che could get a free seat.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

More hou­ses in Lon­gye­ar­by­en have been evacua­ted last night as a pre­cau­tio­na­ry mea­su­re. Yes­ter­day, the hou­ses clo­sest to Suk­ker­top­pen, the moun­tain from which the ava­lan­che came, had been evacua­ted. Later, all inha­bi­tants of hou­ses bet­ween the moun­tain and Hil­mar Reks­tens Vei (the road behind (=east of) Sval­bard­bu­tik­ken) had to lea­ve the area. Altog­e­ther, about 180 peo­p­le had to lea­ve their homes until fur­ther noti­ce. The area is clo­sed, the peo­p­le do not have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to go to their homes to get some per­so­nal items. The super­mar­ket (Sval­bard­bu­tik­ken) and other rele­vant places have ope­ned to give tho­se con­cer­ned the oppor­tu­ni­ty to get important items. Locals who have alre­a­dy left for Christ­mas holi­days have offe­red their flats, others have invi­ted peo­p­le into their homes with them. Rea­di­ness to help others in need is gene­ral­ly gre­at.

The snow ava­lan­che that had des­troy­ed 10 of the so-cal­led Spiss­hus­e­ne on the eas­tern edge of Lon­gye­ar­by­en took one human life, a local Nor­we­gi­an man in his 40s. Seve­ral per­sons are inju­red. Some of the­se, inclu­ding 2 child­ren, were flown to Trom­sø yes­ter­day.

No fur­ther per­sons are declared miss­ing, but the ava­lan­che area con­ti­nues to be sear­ched today to be on the safe side.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen