Several people ‘buried’ in Swiss avalanche

GENEVA: An avalanche at a ski station in the Swiss Alps buried several people on Tuesday, local police said.

The avalanche on the Plaine-Morte ski track in Crans-Montana occurred at about 2:15 pm (1315 GMT) and left "several people buried", police said in a tweet. Officers said rescue teams were at the scene. Plaine-Morte, at an altitude of about 3,000 metres (9,800 feet), is the highest ski track at the Crans-Montana resort. Crans-Montana’s website had listed the risk of an avalanche at two on scale that runs from one (lowest risk) to five.

Tuesday’s avalanche was unusual in that it affected a designated ski track, while the vast majority of deadly avalanches in the Alpine nation hit people skiing off-piste. Traffic is higher than normal at ski resorts across Switzerland this week because of mid-term school holidays.