️ An eight-year-old Australian girl has died after being seriously injured in a snowmobile accident at a Japanese ski resort in Nagano prefecture's Hakuba Valley.
️ Chloe Jeffries, from the Gold Coast, was riding on a snowmobile with her mother on Saturday when it overturned, trapping her underneath.... She was airlifted to hospital but later died.
️ In a tribute from her netball club, Jeffries was remembered for her "beautiful nature" and "her cheeky, infectious smile".
️ Tour operator Hakuba Lion Adventure said the vehicle flipped after going up an embankment along a forest road and that police were investigating. Jeffries is the fourth Australian to have died at a Japanese ski resort this year.
️ In a statement, the tour company's CEO Shinji Wada said the "tragic accident" happened just before 11:00 local time on Saturday.
️ The tour was made up of nine snowmobiles including three guides, he said.
️ "During the tour, near an uphill curve along a forest road, the snowmobile from the front left the course while navigating the curve and rode up onto the embankment at the side of the trail.
️ The vehicle subsequently overturned back onto the course. As a result of the overturn, the passenger riding tandem on the snowmobile became trapped beneath the vehicle."
️ Wada said it had cancelled all its snowmobile and snowshoe tours until further notice and it would conduct a review of its operations and safety procedures.
️ A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to the family.
️ Last month, Melbourne man Michael 'Micky' Hurst, 27, died after he became separated from his group of skiers between two ski resorts in the Hokkaido region.
️ It's understood he collapsed suddenly and was taken to hospital but later declared dead.
️ In the same week, a 22-year-old Australian woman died after becoming trapped in a ski lift at a resort in central Japan.
️ Brooke Day was using a chairlift at Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Otari, Nagano prefecture, when part of her backpack got tangled in the lift, leaving her suspended in midair.
️ The woman suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead, officials said at the time.
️ In January, Australian-Indonesian teenager Rylan Henry Pribadi died while skiing at Niseko Ski Resort in Kutchan Town, Hokkaido.
️ It is believed he collided with a course boundary role. The cause of death was asphyxiation, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
