Search teams battle brutal conditions in California’s Sierra Nevada to recover avalanche victims

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TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — A Black Hawk helicopter on Saturday flew to the snowy, mountainous region of the California’s Sierra Nevada where a fatal avalanche struck this week, amid an ongoing effort to make the area safe enough for crews to recover the bodies of the people killed.

Four people in brown cargo uniforms boarded the helicopter at the airport in Truckee, California, just before 10 a.m. Flight radar data showed the helicopter hovering around Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area, where the bodies of eight people were found on Tuesday, for just under 90 minutes before returning. One person who remained missing also is presumed dead.

Brutal weather and the threat of more avalanches have kept crews from safely recovering the bodies of the eight people killed and another still missing from Tuesday’s avalanche, which was roughly the size of a football field.

A temporary flight restriction over the site of the avalanche, which bars drones and all other unauthorized aircraft from flying in the area, was extended to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Officials said on Friday that they were using water to break up the snow in the area as avalanche mitigation work, a technique that is designed to intentionally release unstable snowpack to reduce the risk when rescue crews go in.

The mitigation and search efforts have included California Highway Patrol air operations, Nevada County Sheriff’s search and rescue, Tahoe Nordic search and rescue, the utility company Pacific Gas & Electric, the Sierra avalanche center and others.

The Nevada County Sheriff's department said in an email on Saturday that the “victim recovery effort remains ongoing," ahead of a 1 p.m. news conference.