Three people are dead after an avalanche at a hot spring resort in northern Japan.
A 131-foot stretch of snow on a mountain slope near a hot spring in Akita Prefecture collapsed yesterday evening. (Wednesday)
The avalanche crushed three structures that housed bedrock baths.
A man and two women who were bathing were rescued and taken to a hospital, where they later died.
The structures were about a 15-minute walk from an inn and were reportedly buried under five-feet of snow.
Snow near the hot spring was more than nine-feet-deep around the time of the avalanche.