Eight people became trapped on Mt Wellington’s summit, and another is missing, as blizzard-like weather causes ‘deadly’ conditions
Eight people have been rescued from blizzards and extreme winds on the summit of Tasmania’s kunanyi/Mt Wellington on Saturday night, as winds, rain and below-average temperatures moved across Australia’s eastern states over the weekend.
“To be honest, these two ladies were very, very lucky to be alive. They were very dangerous conditions. Talking to the search control this morning I understand that the weather chill factor up on the mountain last night was around -6 degrees. Both of these ladies were lucky they were found in a timely manner by the rescuers,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, a 54-year-old woman was killed and a man seriously injured after being struck by a falling tree in the Tasmanian town of Beulah on Saturday evening. A 54-year-old man was taken to Launceston general hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning