Five Skiers Killed In 'Massive' Alps Avalanche

Five skiers from the Czech Republic have been killed after a "massive" avalanche at an Austrian resort in the Alps.

A police spokesman said the avalanche in the Tyrol region buried 17 people.

Two other skiers have been injured and 10 people were rescued unhurt, police spokesman Helmut Schuetz said.

He added that the skiers were moving in two separate groups of 12 and five when the avalanche hit them around noon local time in the Wattental Lizum region, around 25 miles (40km) southeast of Innsbruck in western Austria.

"It was one massive avalanche, several hundred metres (yards) wide and long," Mr Schuetz said.

The tear point, where the slab of snow broke off from the mountain, was one metre (3ft) deep, he added.

The entire skiing region has been on a level three avalanche alert - out of a maximum of five - and several avalanches have also been reported elsewhere.

The deaths follow a number of deadly snowslides in the French Alps this season.

Five soldiers from the French Foreign Legion died near the resort of Valfrejus on 18 January, with a sixth dying days later in hospital.

Two French teenagers and a Ukrainian tourist were also killed on 14 January when a teacher took the students onto a closed skiing piste at the Deux-Alpes resort.

The teacher, who was seriously injured, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.