What happened in the Southern Alps avalanche in New Zealand and how do avalanches kill?

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1. 1

   Causes of death and types of injuries of avalanche fatalities based on forensic data: a scoping review.

   Resuscitation plus (Romy et al.)Published Sep 13, 2025Checked Oct 18, 2026

   “Of these, 862 (56 %) underwent postmortem examination, with 442 (51 %) receiving autopsies. Among 387 autopsied cases with reported causes of death, asphyxia accounted for 72 %, trauma 18 %, hypothermia 2 %, and combined causes 8 %. Asphyxia-related findings included pulmonary edema, organ congestion, and petechiae. Trauma-related deaths involved head, neck, and thoracic injuries. Hypothermia findings included Wischnewski spots and frostbite. Histopathology (n = 48) revealed asphyxia-related lesions in all victims, while hypothermia findings were infrequent. Postmortem imaging (n = 12) showed pulmonary edema. Toxicology detected ethanol in 4 %, cannabinoids in 11 % and cocaine in 1 % of cases tested.ConclusionOur review aligns with previous studies, confirming asphyxia as the leading cause of death, followed by trauma and hypothermia. Gaps in knowledge remain on autopsy-confirmed causes of death and related injuries. Standardized forensic protocols could improve death classification accuracy, particularly in cases with combined causes.”

2. 2

   Death of backcountry winter-sports practitioners in avalanches - A systematic review and meta-analysis of proportion of causes of avalanche death.

   PLOS global public health (Rong et al.)Published May 30, 2025Checked Oct 18, 2026

   “Factors influencing PCAD, that were either available or not available for quantitative synthesis, were summarized in a narrative systematic review (37 studies). In conclusion, we re-affirm asphyxia as the predominant cause of avalanche death, followed by trauma, and then hypothermia. Patterns of PCAD by trauma and asphyxia varied more after the year of 2000. A sample size > 75 is needed to estimate the proportion of hypothermia. PCAD discrepancies are lower in the data representing fatalities from a country than from regions. Without proper forensic diagnosis procedure, PCAD by trauma can be over-estimated. Under-reporting of forensic diagnostic criteria is an important bottleneck to the reliability of evidence in the field. Evidence on the role of other influencing factors to PCAD such as fatalities' expertise and usage of mitigation gear is anecdotal and warrants further research. The results of meta-analysis build upon synthesizing and summarizing studies with moderate to high risk of bias and should be interpreted with caution.”

3. 3

   Emergency care for avalanche buried patients - a narrative review.

   Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine (Strapazzon et al.)Published Feb 20, 2026Checked Oct 18, 2026

   “Avalanches claim the lives of around 160 winter recreationists and workers in hazardous snow-covered mountain regions worldwide. These fatalities result from asphyxia, trauma, and hypothermia. Survival for critically buried subjects relies on the speed of extrication, absence of trauma, presence of a patent airway and air pocket, immediate field treatment, and rapid transport to the most appropriate hospital by organized search and rescue (SAR) and emergency medical services (EMS). Survival may be improved with helicopter EMS, advancements in safety and rescue equipment technology, early deployment of professional SAR teams with checklists and standard operating procedures (SOPs), and the use of drones. Prehospital and in-hospital care of an avalanche accident requires medical, technical, logistical, and organizational competencies.This narrative review of historic and updated survival curves, professional society guidelines, and snow burial studies, discusses the best practices for prehospital care, triage, transport, and in-hospital management of avalanche patients.”

4. 4

   Prevalence of airway patency and air pocket in critically buried avalanche victims - a scoping review.

   Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine (Eisendle et al.)Published Apr 23, 2024Checked Oct 18, 2026

   “MEDLINE and Cochrane databases, as well as additional manual searching was performed to identify literature reporting data on airway patency and the presence of an air pocket in critically buried avalanche victims. After eliminating duplicates, we screened abstracts and main texts to identify eligible studies.ResultsOf 4,109 studies identified 154 were eligible for further screening. Twenty-four publications and three additional data sources with a total number of 566 cases were included in this review. The proportion of short-term (ConclusionThe present study found that in critically buried avalanche victims patent airways were more than three times more prevalent than obstructed, with the airway status reported only in half of the cases. This high rate of airway patency supports the ongoing development and the effectiveness of avalanche rescue systems which oppose asphyxiation in critically buried avalanche victims. Further effort should be done to improve the documentation of airway patency and the presence of an air pocket in avalanche victims and to identify factors affecting the rate of airway obstruction.”

5. 5

   Avalanche (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Oct 17, 2026Checked Oct 18, 2026

   “An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, other animals, and earthquakes. Primarily composed of flowing snow and air, large avalanches have the capability to capture and move ice, rocks, and trees. Avalanches occur in two general forms, or combinations thereof: slab avalanches made of tightly packed snow, triggered by a collapse of an underlying weak snow layer, and loose snow avalanches made of looser snow. After being set off, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they capture more snow. If an avalanche moves fast enough, some of the snow may mix with the air, forming a powder snow avalanche. Though they appear to share similarities, avalanches are distinct from slush flows, mudslides, rock slides, and serac collapses. They are also different from large scale movements of ice. Avalanches can happen in any mountain range that has an enduring snowpack. They are most frequent in winter or spring, but may occur at any time of the year.”