Rescuers find third victim from Idaho avalanches

A third victim was found on an Idaho mountain Thursday, two days after three avalanches in the same area claimed the lives of two other people. The third victim has not been identified.

The avalanche came after the ski resort in the Idaho Panhandle received heavy snow and resort crews used explosives to try to reduce avalanche threats. The other two victims, whose bodies were recovered Wednesday, were identified by the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office on Thursday as Carl Humphreys, 58, of Liberty Lake, Washington, and Scott Parsons, 46, of Spokane Valley, Washington. Five other people survived with minor injuries.

The resort did not realize that another skier was missing until a day after the avalanche, when it received a call Wednesday morning from a concerned family member unable to get in touch with that person. That prompted searchers to resume their hunt Wednesday and Thursday.

Shoshone County Sheriff Mike Gunderson told local media that a third body buried under the avalanche was found Thursday by searchers in a helicopter and identified as the person reported missing on Wednesday. He said there were no other reports of missing persons on the mountain.

Two Bear Air — a search and rescue support team out of Montana — and some avalanche K-9 teams helped in the search using special equipment, according to CBS Spokane, Washington, affiliate KREM-TV.

During the winter of 2018-19, 25 people died in avalanches in the U.S., The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.

The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center will investigate the cause of the avalanche, the resort said.