Avalanche kills three German skiers with fourth still missing

Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in Austria and a fourth is still missing, police said Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps. In France, two ski patrollers were killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded.

The two accidents brought to at least 26 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month.

In Austria, the wife of one of the German skiers reported them missing on Saturday. The bodies of the men, aged 57, 36 and 32, were recovered later Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech.

Police in Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost province, said they had to call off the search for another missing German skier in the group, age 28, because of heavy snow and the risk of avalanches.

Police said the four friends had apparently skied on to a trail that was closed. Although they had avalanche protection equipment and deployed airbags, the victims were buried by the avalanche and suffered multiple injuries.

They were located with the help of moble phone tracking. Last week, following the death of an Australian schoolboy on holiday with his family in western Austria, the Austrian minister responsible for tourism, Elisabeth Koestinger, said: “In most skiing areas, there is no reason for concern at present if people keep to the rules and don’t leave the secured slopes”.

In France, the Haute-savoie region’s high mountain gendarmerie said the two ski patrollers were killed yesterday morning in Morillon before ski slopes were opened to the public.

French police say the two were killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded as they were securing the slopes at a ski resort in the French Alps.

Ski patrollers are in charge of preventing potential dangers to skiers, notably by triggering controlled avalanches with powerful explosive charges.

The risk of an avalanche was estimated at “high” yesterday in Morillon, with a rating of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 following a heavy snowfall overnight.

Authorities in southern Germany and Austria had used a break in the weather to clear heavy loads of snow from roofs and roads, but snow set in again on Saturday night.

In the Bavarian town of Kempten, authorities closed 11 sports halls until tomorrow fearing the that the weight of snow on their roofs was posing increasing dangers, the German news agency dpa reported.

The small Alpine resort of Balderschwang on Germany’s border with Austria was cut off yesterday after the pass leading to it was closed for fear of avalanches. In central Switzerland, trains carrying cars through the Furka tunnel were suspended because of an avalanche on a nearby road.