Five die amid avalanche alert

Alpine ski resorts were on high alert today after heavy weekend snowfalls caused avalanches that killed at least five people in the last three days.

In the Swiss resort of Lauterbrunnen, an American resident of Germany who was skiing well off the marked run, was swept away by a snowslide and killed, police in the canton (state) of Bern said.

Police did not identify the victim but said a second American caught up in the avalanche escaped unharmed.

Another US national died across the border in the French resort of Tignes, after apparently falling into a frozen lake while snowboarding on unmarked territory, rescue services said.

The victim’s identity was not revealed, but authorities identified him as a 28-year-old resident of Boston, Massachusetts.

The force of the avalanche projected him through a 20-centimetre- (8-inch-) thick layer of ice on frozen Tignes Lake. The victim’s companion, a French woman, was injured.

In nearby Val d’Isere, a 19-year-old Swede who was skiing off marked trails was swept away by an avalanche and killed.

Avalanches also were responsible today for a number of injuries in France and Switzerland, where four skiers were hurt near the popular resort of Verbier after being caught up in a 300-metre (1,000-foot) wide snowslide.

“People by themselves can continue to easily activate avalanches,” the Davos-based Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research said in its bulletin.

On Saturday, a 45-year-old woman was killed while snow-shoeing near the Alpine resort of Les Diablerets.

Together with Monday’s death near Lauterbrunnen, there have been 18 avalanche victims in Switzerland this season. Almost all of those killed by avalanches had ventured outside marked ski runs.

A 28-year-old Norwegian tourist also died in a landslide on an Italian mountain while sightseeing.