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Avalanche Buries Snowcat, 2 People Hospitalized

Screenshot/PublicYouTube/KSL News

Taylor Giles Contributor
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An avalanche in Utah buried a snowcat and hospitalized two people Tuesday.

Two snowcats were driving together when one of the snowcats was buried by the avalanche, according to KSL. Two people were inside the snowcat at the time of the avalanche.

One of the individuals was able to dig out of the avalanche and had minor cuts to his head, KSL reported. The other individual’s foot was pinned in the tracks of the snowcat and had to be freed by first responders.

“Rescue teams were able to extricate the individual that was trapped under the snowcat,” according to a Facebook post by the Morgan County Fire & EMS. “This took coordination and transportation of firefighters and EMT’s, ‘The Jaws of Life,’ sawzalls, and other heavy rescue equipment through approximately 5 miles of deep snow from the staging area to the scene.”

The massive amount of snow in the region created an unstable area just above the snowcat, Morgan County Fire Chief Boyd Carrigan told KSL. The area where the snowcat was traveling normally doesn’t receive much snow. (RELATED: Shocking, Heroic Details Emerge About Jeremy Renner Accident That Left Him Hospitalized)

“It’s to the extreme. We’ve had all this new snow sitting on top of this old snow that has that crust layer, so if you are going to travel in the backwoods, be prepared,” Carrigan said, reported KSL.

Both individuals injured in the avalanche are in stable condition, the Facebook post said.