MOSCOW: Russian authorities say six teenagers are trapped in an avalanche in the region of Tuva in southern Siberia.

The Emergency Situations Ministry says a distress call came in late yesterday afternoon, Moscow time, from the remote mountain area about 100 kilometers north of the Mongolian border. 

The Interfax news agency quoted local officials as saying that a 17-year-old boy who was hiking with the other teens had managed to escape.

Several dozen rescue workers are combing the avalanche zone.

It was not immediately clear what the teens were doing in the area, but Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov tweeted that the youth were going to put up flags in the area as some kind of a lucky charm. 

AP