Hopes fade for missing Briton as rescuers blast way to resort
AUTHORITIES in Switzerland resorted to dynamite yesterday to clear a path to the ski resort of Zermatt, where more than 13,000 tourists are snowed in.
Helicopter teams used controlled explosions to trigger avalanches and clear dangerous areas of snow so the rail line to the town could be safely reopened.
Services resumed shortly after 5pm local time (4pm GMT), finally opening a route to the resort, which had been cut off from the outside world for two days.
The only way in or out had been by helicopter airlift, with many tourists choosing to pay 70 Swiss francs (£50) for a seat on a flight.
Meanwhile, mountain rescuers in the French Alps warned that there was little hope of finding British snowboarder John Bromell alive, after he went missing on Sunday in the resort of Tignes.
“The chances that we will find him alive are minimal. But we cannot give up hope,” a spokesman for the gendarme mountain rescue service in Albertville told The Daily Telegraph.
“The only tiny chance he might have is if he managed to make himself a sort of shelter under lots of snow and is still in there. But the chances really are less than slim,” he said. As night fell, Mr Bromell’s family still had no news of the 39-year-old from Lincolnshire.
He went missing late on Sunday afternoon when he returned alone to the slopes “for one last run”, despite worsening weather, after spending the day snowboarding with his family.
In neighbouring Switzerland, authorities worked round the clock to reopen the Zermatt Matterhorn railway, a vital lifeline to the snowed-in ski resort. It was not just a matter of clearing 3ft of snow from the tracks. The risk of avalanches was too high for trains to run. Helicopter teams used dynamite to trigger avalanches under controlled conditions so the route could be made safe. But this sent still more snow onto the tracks, and initial plans to reopen the railway in the morning had to be postponed.
“The snow clearance is more complicated than expected. They are working under extreme pressure,” Janine Imesch of the Zermatt tourism office said.
A small section of the railway linking Zermatt to the nearby village of Täsch was reopened yesterday. From there the road has been cleared and it is possible to continue by bus.
“There is no panic or fear. Everything is fine, even if it doesn’t look that way from the outside,” Ms Imesch said. “Zermatt is a winter destination, so of course we’re familiar with this sort of situation. The last time this sort of thing happened was only nine years ago. All hotels and businesses have stores. We have enough for a long time. And if something is missing, the helicopter is always there.”
Meanwhile in the Italian Alpine resort of Sestriere, where more than 6ft of snow fell in 48 hours, a five-storey apartment building was hit by an avalanche on Monday night. Snow and broken branches filled the building, but the 29 people inside at the time escaped unharmed.