Avalanche hunt fails to find missing climber

John Hogbin, 42, originally from York, was with two fellow mountaineers, who survived, when the avalanche struck at 1.30pm on Sunday on the Sierra Nevada mountain range, to the west of a ski resort above Granada city.

The Guardia Civil’s Ruben Santos who is in charge of the rescue operation said yesterday the chances of finding Mr Hogbin alive “have disappeared”.

Mr Hogbin, a widower with a four-year-old son, lived in the small village of Zafarraya in the province of Granada where he ran a garage with his father, Christopher, also originally from York. Several of Mr Hogbin’s brothers also live in the same white-washed village.

One of Mr Hogbin’s friends, Salva, who was with him on Sunday, told Spain’s Ideal newspaper about their tragedy on the heavily laden snow slope.

“John went first and he told us to separate about 10 metres between us for safety.

“Suddenly I heard like three thunderclaps, I looked at John an instant, and then turned round. I saw how as if a wave in the sea was coming towards us, and tried to remember what to do in such a situation.

“Although you are never prepared for something like this, I threw myself as if it was sea, and began to move my arms to keep me on the surface and managed to find space to breathe.

“When I finally stopped I realised I had communication with the exterior and so the first thing I did was to call 112 [the emergency services].”

Both Salva and the other survivor helped with the extensive search which has been continuing in daylight hours with snow clearing machines, sniffer dogs, and police and mountain rescue teams.

Yesterday the search focused on a 3,000-square-foot area where Mr Hogbin’s climbing axe was found.

It is planned to continue for a number of days.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office told said: “We are aware that a British national is reported missing in the Sierra Nevada mountains on February 20.

“We are in contact with the Spanish authorities who have resumed a search of the area.”