BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — One snowmobiler died and two others suffered minor injuries in an avalanche in southwestern Montana, marking the fourth death in the region in a week.

Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin says 46-year-old Burton Kenneth Gibson of Bozeman and two 19-year-old men were snowmobiling in Onion Basin southeast of Big Sky Wednesday afternoon when they were caught in the slide. Gibson was buried. The two other riders were able to locate him using avalanche transceivers, but CPR efforts failed. Searchers planned to return to the area to recover Gibson's body.

Three other people have died in avalanches in Wyoming and Colorado over the past week. Skier Mike Kazanjy of Santa Ana, Calif., and snowmobiler Rex Anderson of Arco, Idaho, died in separate avalanches near Jackson, Wyo., on Dec. 26. Another person died Tuesday in a slide north of Granby, Colo.

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