Search underway for three people missing after avalanche in Shoshone County

Three people are missing after an avalanche struck in Shoshone County, the sheriff’s office said Thursday evening.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the disaster hit, but Friends of the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center said on Facebook Thursday night that an avalanche had been reported near Stevens Peak, just southeast of the town of Mullan. The group said a rescue was underway.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office posted around 7:45 p.m. on Facebook that the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Air Force were helping in the search.

With raging winds and a thick mass of snow piled up, the area was under an avalanche watch as of Wednesday, the Shoshone-News Press reported.

The paper said the warning was in effect for elevations above 5,500 feet in the Silver Valley’s St. Joe Mountains, and the Selkirk Range and Cabinet Mountains of North Idaho and western Montana.

No other details were immediately available.