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(NEVADA COUNTY, Calif.) — Eight backcountry skiers have been found dead, and one remains missing following an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, officials announced Wednesday.

Search crews on Tuesday braved “highly dangerous” conditions to rescue six other skiers who were part of the same guided group, authorities said.

Crews were working on Wednesday to bring the remains of the eight dead skiers off the mountain to be reunited with their families after autopsies are performed to determine the cause of death, authorities said.

Perilous conditions near Donner Pass, where the avalanche occurred, continued on Wednesday morning. Rescuers faced a winter storm dumping more than 2 inches of snow an hour in the area, grounding rescue helicopters and hampering ground crews trying to reach the missing skiers, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.

Tuesday’s avalanche was reported around 11:30 a.m. PT in the Castle Peak area at an elevation of 8,200 feet in the Sierra Nevada northwest of Lake Tahoe, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

A group of 15 skiers, including four guides from the company Blackbird Mountain Guides, encountered the avalanche, according to the sheriff’s office.

“The group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the incident occurred,” Blackbird Mountain Guides said in a statement.

Preliminarily, the slide measured a D2.5 on the Destructive Force Scale, the avalanche version of the Enhanced Fujita Scale for rating tornadoes, meaning it was strong enough to injure, bury, or kill a person, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. A D3 on the scale is strong enough to destroy a house.

Six people were successfully rescued Tuesday evening by search-and-rescue teams with varying injuries, authorities said. The survivors had been taking cover under a tarp when they were found alive, a source who communicated with the group told ABC News.

The survivors made a 911 call using an iPhone satellite SOS message, the sheriff’s officer said. Emergency beacons also helped rescuers find the stranded skiers, the sheriff’s office said.

“Due to extreme weather conditions, it took several hours for rescue personnel to safely reach the skiers and transport them to safety where they were medically evaluated by Truckee Fire,” the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Two of the six skiers have been transported to a hospital for treatment.”

Authorities initially said 16 skiers were in the group, and 10 were missing.

Rescuers faced very difficult conditions, including avalanche danger themselves, according to Brandon Schwartz, director of the Sierra Avalanche Center, which forecasts avalanche conditions in the area around Lake Tahoe. The area saw 2 to 3 feet of new snow in the last 36 hours and more was still falling at 2 to 4 inches per hour, Schwartz told ABC News.

The Blackbird Mountain Guides said the avalanche happened near the Frog Lake Backcountry Huts in the Castle Peak area, northwest of Truckee.

The group of skiers had been staying at the huts — which the company describes in online advertisements as “luxury-dormitories” — since Sunday. A 3-to-4-day stay at the huts normally costs $1,795, according to the company’s website.

The company lists prerequisites for customers, including requiring skiers to be “adept with their backcountry touring skills and have a solid foundation of touring before the trip.” Customers are also required to be in good physical shape, according to the company, “able to hike 4-6 miles and climb 1,500-2,500 vertical feet throughout the course of a day.”

The Sierra Avalanche Center said there was “high” avalanche danger in the backcountry on Tuesday, raising questions of why the group was in the rugged area.

On Monday, Blackbird Mountain Guides posted a video on Instagram showing what it described as “atypical layering from our normal mid season snowpack.”

“The result is a particularly weak layer in many northerly aspects, across various elevation bands,” a company employee said in the video. “As we move into a large storm cycle this week, pay close attention to places where faceting has been particularly strong — avalanches could behave abnormally and hazards could last longer than normal.”

The Sierra Avalanche Center said rapidly accumulating snowfall, weak layers of existing snowpack and gale-force winds that blow and drift snow “have created dangerous avalanche conditions in the mountains.”

“Natural avalanches are likely, and human-triggered avalanches large enough to bury or injure people are very likely,” the center said.

The center has issued an avalanche warning for the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains between Yuba Pass on the north and Ebbetts Pass on the south, including the greater Lake Tahoe area, through Wednesday morning.

In an updated statement on Wednesday morning, the center said, “HIGH avalanche danger continues,” and added, “travel in, near, or below avalanche terrain not recommended.”

“Increased uncertainty exists with ongoing reactivity of these buried weak layers under this large storm snow load.  The potential continues for large to very large avalanches occurring in the backcountry today.”

Whiteout conditions have been reported in the region where the avalanche occurred.

The California Highway Patrol’s Truckee office warned that high winds are “creating full whiteout conditions” across the Donner Summit.

Interstate 80 over Donner Summit was closed in both directions on Tuesday and remained closed on Wednesday morning due to whiteout conditions and poor visibility.

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(BEAVER COUNTY, Okla.) — The Oklahoma governor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to multiple wildfires in the state’s panhandle region, as critical fire weather conditions persist in the region.

A “series of destructive wildfires” is burning across northwest Oklahoma, the governor’s office said.

The largest, the Ranger Road Fire, has burned 145,000 acres since igniting in Oklahoma’s Beaver County on Tuesday and crossing into Kansas, according to fire officials. It was 0% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services.

Additional local task forces are being deployed to Beaver County, the governor’s office said Wednesday.

Three other “significant” wildfires in Oklahoma’s Texas and Woodward counties were 20% to 25% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to fire officials.

Four firefighters were injured and several homes destroyed in the wildfire in Woodward County, according to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The town of Tyrone in Texas County was also evacuated earlier Wednesday “as a precaution,” Stitt said.

The governor’s executive order stated that the state’s emergency operations plan has been activated and resources of all state departments and agencies are available “to meet this emergency.”

“As we head into today and tomorrow, conditions remain dangerous,” Stitt said in a statement Wednesday. “We need every Oklahoman to stay alert and continue taking fire warnings seriously.”

A red flag warning is in effect Wednesday across western and central Oklahoma and west of the I-35 corridor, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services. The critical threat of fire danger is expected to continue into Thursday.

“Fire weather conditions will expand eastward across a larger part of Oklahoma as high winds combine with low humidity across most of the state,” the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Wednesday.

Red flag warnings, fire weather watches and high wind warnings are also in effect across Kansas.

“There should be NO outdoor burning of any kind until this event is over, as the slightest ember could become tomorrow’s inferno,” the Kansas Division of Emergency Management said on social media.

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(HOUSTON) — A man has been detained by police after allegedly exhibiting “unruly and unlawful behavior towards other customers” that caused a flight to return to Houston shortly after taking off, according to Delta Airlines and law enforcement. 

The flight, departing from William P. Hobby Airport, was headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior. We apologize to our customers for this experience and delay in their travels,” Delta said in a statement on Wednesday.

After taking off, it landed at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston around 5:40 a.m. local time, according to the FAA. The flight was only in the air for about 15 minutes.

Earlier reports and air traffic controller audio alleged the man was attempting to breach the cockpit of a Delta Airlines flight but Delta said he “did not make contact with or attempt to access the flight deck,” in a statement to ABC News.

A call reporting that “apparently an individual tried to gain entry into a cockpit” was made at around 5:35 a.m., according to the Houston Police Department. Police officers were dispatched to Gate 32 at the airport, where multiple police cars surrounded the aircraft, according to KTRK.

On air traffic controller audio, one of the pilots can be heard telling controllers, “we had a passenger get up and try to access the cockpit,” and that “he assaulted another passenger,” who the pilot said they wanted to get checked out.  

Video reviewed and verified by ABC News shows a passenger whose hands are bound being escorted off a Delta flight 2557 on Wednesday morning in Houston.

The FAA said the flight “returned safely” to Hobby “after the crew reported a passenger disturbance.” The FAA said it will investigate the incident. 

There were 85 passengers and five crew on board the plane. The flight re-departed and arrived in Atlanta, about 90 minutes behind schedule, Delta said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(PUEBLO, Colo.) — At least five people are dead following a pile-up crash involving dozens of vehicles in Colorado that occurred as high winds blew dirt, making for low to zero visibility, authorities said.

The incident occurred around 10 a.m. local time Tuesday on I-25 near Pueblo, which is about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, authorities said. 

Over 30 vehicles, including seven semis, were involved in the crash, according to Colorado State Patrol. Pickups pulling horse trailers, SUVs and passenger vehicles were also involved, according to Maj. Brian Lyons with Colorado State Patrol.

The pile-up occurred during “adverse weather conditions,” Lyons said, with heavy winds blowing dirt and causing “brownout” conditions.

“Visibility was next to nothing,” Lyons said during a press briefing Tuesday.

There were four fatalities in separate vehicles — two men from Walsenburg, Colorado, and two women, one from Rye and one from Pueblo — authorities said Tuesday.

A fifth person who had been transported to a hospital later succumbed to his injuries, Colorado State Patrol said Wednesday.

Another 28 people were transported to area hospitals, with moderate to serious injuries, Colorado State Patrol said.

Authorities were working to account for everyone in the vehicles involved in the crash, Lyons said.

One of the vehicles was a pickup hauling a gooseneck trailer containing 32 goats, Colorado State Patrol said. Four of the goats died, while the rest were safely removed, it said.

Northbound I-25 was closed for several hours as crews worked to clear vehicles, before reopening late Tuesday.

“Due to low visibility, drivers are urged to delay traveling until conditions improve,” Colorado State Patrol said. “If travel is necessary, avoid I-25 in this area, use caution, and reduce speed.”

High wind warnings were in effect for the region on Tuesday. The National Weather Service in Pueblo warned that “significant blowing dust” was possible on the plains, where gusts could be up to 65 mph. Gusts of at least 85 mph were also forecast for mountain areas, it said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Less than a week after the Environmental Protection Agency repealed its own endangerment finding, which gave the agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a coalition of health and environmental organizations sued the agency over its decision.

The case, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is being brought by the American Public Health Association, the American Lung Association, the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, among others.

The lawsuit names EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA as defendants.

Made during the Obama administration, the 2009 decision found that certain greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The regulations that resulted cover everything from vehicle tailpipe emissions to the release of greenhouse gases from power plants and other significant emission sources.

President Donald Trump announced the repeal at the White House last Thursday, alongside Zeldin.

“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” Zeldin said in a statement at the time.

The litigants in the case say that “Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is legally required to limit vehicle emissions of any ‘air pollutant’ that the agency determines ’cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.’ “

The coalition says the Trump Administration is “rehashing legal arguments” that were already rejected by the Supreme Court in its 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case.

“In keeping with a longstanding practice, EPA does not comment on current or pending litigation,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News.

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