9 Killed, 25 Hurt in Canadian Avalanche

An avalanche swept down on a New Year’s celebration in an Inuit village in Quebec on Friday, killing at least nine people, including five children, and injuring 25 after it smashed through a gymnasium wall.

Six people died shortly after the avalanche, and three other victims--a mother and her young daughter and son--were discovered several hours later buried under tons of snow, said Luc Harvey, chief of the Kativik regional police force in Kuujjuaq, 190 miles west of the village.

Five of the victims were younger than age 8, police said.

When the avalanche hit, up to 500 people were packed into the school gym in the coastal village of Kangiqsualujjuaq, 950 miles northeast of Montreal.

Before the last victim’s body was found, local residents dug frantically through snow that slid down the 650-foot hill and punched through the wall of the gym, Harvey said. The volunteer rescuers faced a fierce snowstorm, 60 mph wind and subzero temperatures while looking for those buried under snow up to 10 feet deep.

Police said they had accounted for everyone. The names of the victims were not released.

Ten of the injured were in serious condition, Quebec police said.

Of the 25 injured, 10 are children, including a 6-month-old baby, said Minnie Grey, executive director of the Ungava Tulattavik health center in Kuujjuaq. The oldest injured person is 69.

“One of the injured has respiratory problems, and the rest have broken bones,” she said.

Twelve of the injured were flown to hospitals in Montreal.

The Inuit community in the Ungava Bay region of Quebec has only one doctor and two police officers.

Kangiqsualujjuaq means “very big bay” in the Inuktituk language.