Panticosa avalanche kills three in Spain’s Pyrenees as warnings remain in force
Event date: 2025-12-29
Three people were killed and one woman was injured after an avalanche hit skiers in Panticosa, in Spain’s Aragon region near the French border, according to the Daily Express. The incident struck in the Pyrenees despite existing avalanche warnings in the area.
The report says six people were caught in the snow after a fall near Tablato peak at around 1 p.m. local time on Dec. 29. Three skiers died from the avalanche. A woman in the group survived and was taken to hospital with hypothermia, while two other group members escaped with relatively minor consequences.
Spanish mountain rescue specialists responded with helicopter support and ground teams. The rescue operation located the group in the snow, but the source does not say how long it took to reach them or whether any of the fatalities were buried for an extended period. Even so, the account shows a rapid emergency response in difficult mountain conditions.
Panticosa is described as one of Spain’s most popular ski areas, drawing large numbers of visitors each year. That makes the accident more striking, since a resort busy with holiday skiers can still become deadly when weather conditions and avalanche risk shift suddenly.
The source says the Spanish weather agency Aemet had issued a Level 2 avalanche warning, while Meteo France had also warned of avalanche danger across the Pyrenees. That matters because it shows the risk was known before the slide occurred. The fatality count suggests that warnings did not prevent a group from encountering unstable snow on the mountain.
The region’s president, Jorge Azcon, said he changed his schedule because of the avalanche risk and posted online that he was shocked by the news. That reaction underscores how quickly a local mountain incident can become a regional emergency when deaths occur during a holiday period.
The available report does not identify the victims by name or say whether they were locals or visitors. It also does not describe equipment, route choice or whether the skiers were off marked terrain. Those details remain unverified in the supplied evidence.
What is verified is enough to tell the story: a group of six skiers was hit by an avalanche at Panticosa, three died, one was hospitalized and two escaped. It was a deadly reminder that warnings in the Pyrenees were not theoretical.
