Three professional skiers from a group were killed and one saved after he got seriously injured yesterday, Sunday, Febr. 19^th when an avalanche hit them in an out-of-bounds area placed nearby popular Washington ski resort, according to CBS News.

The three men were swept about a quarter-mile down a canyon, and a fourth skier caught up in the slide was saved by a safety device, authorities said. The large group had split into three smaller groups before the avalanche, but all the backcountry skiers were buried to some extent. Those who were able to free themselves rushed to dig out the victims and unsuccessfully performed CPR on the three, believed to be in their 30s and 40s.

"Most of the people involved in this were well-known to the ski community up here, especially to the ski patrol," said Deputy Chris Bedker of the King County Sheriff's search-and-rescue unit. "It was their friends who they recovered," CBS reports.

The Stevens Pass fatalities were part of a deadly Sunday on Washington ski slopes. A male snowboarder was killed in a separate avalanche incident at the Alpental ski area east of Seattle, authorities said. Victims were reported Jim Jack, a former extreme skier who judged "freeskiing" competitions around the world, and also John Brenan died. Pro skier Elyse Saugstad, however, was saved by an avalanche airbag, which kept her near enough to the surface of the slide to keep her head and hands uncovered.

The men who died on Stevens Pass tumbled approximately 1,500 feet down a chute in the Tunnel Creek Canyon area, King County Sheriff's Sgt. Katie Larson said. ESPN Freeskiing editor Megan Michelson was among the skiers but was uninjured, according to ESPN.