Story highlights Students were taking ski and climbing lessons as part of a mountaineering group

Thirty-two students and teachers were able to safely get down from the slope

Tokyo (CNN) Seven high school students and a teacher were killed after being caught in an avalanche at a Japanese ski resort Monday, according to the local fire department.

Poor weather conditions initially hampered efforts by rescue crews to reach the Nasu Onsen Family Ski Area, a small ski slope on the side of Mount Nasu in Tochigi Prefecture, about 200 kilometers north of Tokyo.

The students were part of a mountaineering club and had reportedly been taking part in a climbing event when local police received a call about the avalanche at 9:20 a.m. local time, according to local officials.

Sixty-two teachers and students were participating in the climbing lesson and 48 of them were in the area where the avalanche happened, police told CNN.

Forty people were hurt, including two who sustained serious injuries.

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