At least three people have been killed in an avalanche at a ski resort in the Austrian Alps, police say.

Rescuers are looking for a fourth person missing after the avalanche hit at about 12:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

The four were said to be in a group of eight foreign tourists but managed to free themselves and seek help, according to Austrian reports.

The avalanche happened in a remote area close to the Jochgrubenkopf peak in the Tyrol in western Austria.

Rudi Mair from the Tyrol avalanche warning service said "tonnes of snow" had come down.

He described the area as "extremely steep". </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption Rescue teams worked for hours on the mountain in search of the missing fourth victim

Four people were killed when a large avalanche swept away a ski group in the Austrian Alps, police say.

The avalanche hit the remote Jochgrubenkopf peak in the Tyrol region at about 12:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

It engulfed a group of eight foreign tourists, but four managed to free themselves and seek help, according to Austrian reports.

Three bodies were found quickly but rescuers searched for hours to find the fourth body buried deep in the snow.

Local reports said the ski group was visiting from Switzerland.

Rudi Mair from the Tyrol avalanche warning service said "tonnes of snow" had come down the 2,400m (7,800ft) mountain. The avalanche was said to have been about 700m (2,300 feet) long.

The alert level at the time had been quite low.

But Mr Mair told Austrian broadcaster ORF that the avalanche had been triggered by a small amount of fresh snow on top of several, unstable layers of old snow.

Fourteen people in Austria have died in avalanche accidents this winter, officials say. </s> Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in the Austrian Alps – and a fourth is missing, police have said.

The bodies of the men – aged 57, 36 and 32 – were recovered on Saturday evening near Lech, a few hours after the wife of one of the skiers reported them missing.

Police in Vorarlberg, Austria’s western-most province, said on Sunday they had to call off the search for another German, aged 28, because of heavy snow and the risk of avalanches.

The avalanche deaths bring to at least 24 the number of weather-related fatalities reported in parts of Europe this month.

On Saturday, authorities in southern Germany and Austria used a break in the weather to clear heavy loads of snow from roofs and roads. </s> VIENNA: Three people were killed when their ski touring group was swept away by an avalanche in western Austria, and a fourth person was missing, police in the Tyrol region said on Wednesday.

Rescuers were still hunting for the missing person in the remote area near the Jochgrubenkopf, a roughly 2,450m-high peak.

The group of eight people was using touring skis, with which one can climb and descend, making remote areas accessible.

Their nationalities were not yet known, police said.

"Four of them were able to free themselves (from the snow)," a spokeswoman for Tyrol police said. "After the search operation for the remaining four, three were found dead. The fourth person who remains unaccounted for is being sought."

The avalanche struck around 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT), she said. </s> Italian alpine rescuers say three skiers have been killed in avalanche in the northern Italian Alps near the French border that injured another five people. Milan Walter of the national alpine rescue corps says the group was back-country skiing when the avalanche was triggered at Plan de la Gabba, 5 kilometers southwest of Courmayeur, around midday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at News Max. </s> Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in Austria and a fourth is missing, police said on Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps.

The bodies of the men – aged 57, 36 and 32 – were recovered on Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech, a few hours after the wife of one of the skiers reported them missing.

Police in Vorarlberg, Austria’s western-most 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.

The avalanche brings to at least 24 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month. </s> Three skiers are reported to have been killed, two more are missing and two were injured in an avalanche at Val Vény, near Courmayeur in the Mont Blanc region of the Italian Alps. Officials say those affected by the avalanche, which struck at about midday on Thursday (2nd March) came from Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

The victims are reported to have been in an off-piste area making their way through a fresh fall of snow when the avalanche struck. The two injured skiers were hit by large rocks and have been taken to hospital in Aosta by helicopter, the BBC reported. Skiers went to the scene and dug into the deep snow to try and find those missing.

The avalanche risk in the region had been judged at three out of five on Thursday morning before the avalanche struck. This was due to a number of factors including fresh snow and high winds which caused drifting. A second avalanche struck the same area on Thursday afternoon, but two off-piste skiers who were caught up in it were not injured. Courmayeur is known for its difficult skiing.

There have been a number of avalanches in the Alps over the winter, including one at the French resort of Tignes on 14th February 2017. Four snowboarders were killed including a father and his two sons. On 16th February six climbers died in two separate incidents in the Italian and French Alps when ice walls collapsed due to unseasonably warm weather.

Twenty-nine people died when a huge avalanche buried Hotel Rigopiano in central Italy on 18th January 2017. </s> Zermatt ski resort in Switzerland was forced to shut down on January 9, leaving 13,000 tourists stranded, due to heavy snowfall and high risk of avalanches in the area. This video, captured by an avalanche monitoring company using high-definition CCTV, shows an avalanche that took place in the same area five days previously, on January 4. As powdered snow begins to fall towards the camera, it is followed by a torrent of heavy snow carrying branches and small trees down the side of the mountain. The Swiss Alps, and particularly the Zermatt area, were placed on the maximum alert level for avalanche risk on January 8. Credit: Twitter/GEOPRAEVENT via Storyful

Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in Austria and a fourth is still missing, police said on Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps.

Meanwhile in France, two ski patrollers were killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded.

In Austria, the wife of one of the German skiers reported them missing on Saturday (local time). The bodies of the men, aged 57, 36 and 32, were recovered later Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech, 20 kilometres from where Australian student Max Meyer died in an avalanche in the ski village of St. Anton am Arlberg on Wednesday.

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 onto 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 cellphone tracking.

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

In France, the Haute-Savoie region’s high mountain gendarmerie said the two ski patrollers were killed on Sunday morning in Morillon before ski slopes were opened to the public. Officers were investigating the scene to determine the cause of the rare accident.

Ski patrollers are in charge of preventing potential dangers to skiers, notably by triggering controlled avalanches with powerful explosive charges. 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, local authorities closed 11 sports halls as a precaution through Tuesday fearing that the weight of snow on their roofs was posing increasing dangers, the German news agency dpa reported. Trains between the German cities of Munich and Lindau were travelling more slowly than usual because of a risk of snow-laden trees falling onto the tracks.

The small Alpine resort of Balderschwang on Germany’s border with Austria was cut off Sunday 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. </s> Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in the Austria – and a fourth is missing, police said on Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps.

Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in the Austria – and a fourth is missing, police said on Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps.

The bodies of the men – aged 57, 36 and 32 – were recovered on Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech, a few hours after the wife of one of the skiers reported them missing.

Police in Vorarlberg, Austria’s western-most 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.

The avalanche brings to at least 24 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month.

Police said the friends had apparently skied onto 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 phone tracking.

On Saturday, authorities in southern Germany and Austria 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, local authorities closed 11 sports halls as a precaution because the weight of snow on their roofs was expected to increase, the German news agency dpa reported.

Trains between the German cities of Munich and Lindau, on Lake Constance near the Austrian border, were travelling more slowly than usual because of a risk of that trees weighed down by snow could fall onto the tracks.
An avalanche kills four skiers in Tyrol, Austria.