Five killed in avalanches

BAD weather hampered rescuers searching for three people feared buried under snow yesterday after avalanches killed at least five others in the Swiss Alps.

Police warned the risk was still high after the avalanches hit a group of skiers and then rescuers who came to their aid in the Diemtig Valley, near the capital Bern on Sunday. Four people were killed, including one of the rescue team. Separately, a skier was killed in an avalanche near Verbier, a town close to the borders with France and Italy.