Five people were killed in an avalanche that buried 17 people from the Czech Republic in Austria’s skiing region of Tyrol yesterday, police said.
The avalanche, which regional TV station ORF Tirol said was 2km (1.25 miles) wide and 5m (16 feet) high, came down shortly after noon at the Wattener Lizum region, about 40km (25 miles) southeast of Innsbruck in western Austria.
Search and rescue operations were still under way yesterday afternoon, and it was unclear how many people were still missing.
Police had said earlier that some people were injured, others unharmed.
A skier had seen the avalanche from a distance and alerted the emergency services, local officials said.
Rescue teams are searching for survivors with the help of specially trained dogs and four helicopters have been deployed to the scene of the accident.
The risk of avalanches in Tyrol yesterday was significant at level three on the five-point hazard scale.
Slabs of snow had also become loose and buried skiers in the German Alps, most of whom were able to free themselves.
Yesterday also saw a number of other avalanches – the result of instability caused by recent snowfall and a slight thaw – in which skiers had to be rescued in Austria’s Tyrol state, famed for its ski resorts and winter sports.
The deaths follow a string of deadly snowslides in the French Alps this season.
In the most recent, five soldiers from the French Foreign Legion died near the resort of Valfrejus on January 18 with a sixth dying days later in hospital.
Two French teenage students and a Ukrainian tourist were also killed on January 14 when a teacher took the students onto a closed skiing piste at the Deux-Alpes resort.
Seriously injured himself, he was later charged with involuntary manslaughter.