3 backcountry skiers are presumed dead after getting caught in a Colorado avalanche

• Three skiers have been missing since Monday when they got caught in a Colorado avalanche.
• The three were apart of a group of seven skiers who went out Monday.
• The Vail Daily reported Tuesday that the three who didn't return are presumed dead.

Three men who went skiing in Colorado Monday and got swept up in an avalanche are presumed dead, the Vail Daily reported.

The men were among a group of seven who were backcountry skiing in an area called "the nose" between the towns of Silverton and Ophir when the avalanche buried four of them, according to a report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

Members of the group were able to recover one of the buried men, who was injured. A search and rescue operation worked through Monday and Tuesday to find the other three, but had no luck, the report said.

The operation was suspended Tuesday evening due to a risk of avalanche, the report said.

Read more: Here's how to survive an avalanche

The Vail Daily reported the three men were well-known members of the Eagle County skiing community.

The avalanche had released on a northeast-facing slope at about 11,500 feet, according to the outlet.

The newspaper reported Tuesday that some of the missing men had been located, and presumed dead, on Tuesday, but that they were unable to be successfully extracted from the snow because of hazardous conditions.

"We are hoping for a successful recovery mission," DeAnne Gallegos, public information officer for San Juan County, told The Vail Daily.