Back-to-back avalanches bury dozens in Turkey

Emergency workers in Turkey were still struggling to rescue victims from a Tuesday avalanche when a second one thundered down a mountainside in Van province on Wednesday. The second slide killed at least 26 people and injured 53 others.

Why were so many people on the mountain? Officials deployed about 300 emergency workers—including firefighters, military police officers, and volunteers—to the region after the first avalanche, which killed five people and left two missing. The Turkish Interior Ministry said about 30 emergency responders are in the hospital after either escaping or being rescued from the second avalanche. Several others are still trapped in the snow.

Dig deeper: Read Lynn Vincent’s 2006 report in WORLD Magazine on how U.S. forces helped to respond to an avalanche of mud and rocks in the Philippines.