A Greek skier who was caught in an avalanche at the Borovets ski resort in Bulgaria was found dead in the Markujik 3 area earlier this afternoon, according to Bulgarian media.

As novinite.com reports, the body of the man for whom a search and rescue operation had been set up was found when the spot where he was skiing with three other friends was hit by a snow avalanche.

The avalanche is estimated to have been about 150 metres long and nearly 30 metres wide.

The chronicle of the tragedy

The relevant Mountain Rescue Service was alerted at around 14:13 by an eyewitness to the group.

“Four Greek citizens and snowboarders were swallowed by an avalanche. Three were rescued on their own. The skier is currently missing,” a person from the Mountain Rescue Service initially said.

Bulgarian media reported earlier that the area was difficult to access as the Greek skiers were off-piste and did not have an avalanche device, which is mandatory when going off-piste.

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More than 25 mountain rescuers with 4 dogs were involved in the operation to locate the missing person.

After the incident, the Mountain Rescue Service issued a warning advising people to avoid the winding north, northeast and east slopes of Borovets, with all slopes closed.