Disaster 50 years ago: Brenner-Lawine tore six people to death

In April 1975 a huge avalanche broke up on the South Tyrolean side of the Brenner. Only after a week three Austrians were reported missing. Finally it was clear that a total of six people were killed in the snow masses.

At about 9 a.m. on April 5, 1975, a giant avalanche broke down below the Flatschspitze. With a width of at least 500 meters, it plunged into the valley and spilled the railway line, the highway and the state road at the Brenner.The snow masses reached a height of more than ten meters in some places and tore everything that stood in their way with them – trees, boulders and much more.The dull rumbling of the giant avalanche was widely heard.Great…