1954 Blons avalanches

The Blons avalanches took place in Austria in January 1954. They occurred in the federal state of Vorarlberg, where they had a big impact on the Great Walser Valley region and specifically, the village of Blons. The avalanches occurred over a two-day period beginning from 11 January 1954 and resulted in the death of 125 people, 57 of whom were killed specifically in Blons. Two big avalanches struck Blons within 9 hours, the second of which buried rescue workers who were attempting to save civilians from the first avalanche. The avalanches caused much destruction to the Blons village, damaging one third of housing infrastructure and killing one third of the population. The Blons avalanches are considered to be one of the worst mass burials in Austrian history, resulting in one of the highest number of fatalities due to an avalanche.