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Death toll from Swiss Alps avalanches hits 10

Sunday, 01 February 2015 2:15 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 01 February 2015 2:15 PM ]

The file photo shows helicopters and rescue workers after an avalanche on the Piz Vilan Mountain in Switzerland.

The death toll from recent avalanches in unpatrolled areas in the Swiss Alps has risen to ten.

An injured skier, who had been engulfed by an avalanche while skiing off-piste in Piz Vilan Mountain in Switzerland’s eastern canton of Graubünden, died overnight at a hospital, Swiss police said on Sunday.

The female skier was among the nine skiers who were hit by an avalanche while skiing down the slopes of Piz Vilan Mountain at an altitude of 2,200 meters on Saturday afternoon. Four of them died in the avalanche while two were seriously injured.

Separately, a 31-year-old off-piste skier and a 28-year-old Swiss snowboarder were killed by heavy snow in the Bernese Oberland in the canton of Bern on Saturday.

On January 29 and 30, three other off-piste skiers also died in avalanches.

Swiss authorities have repeatedly been warning skiers of avalanche dangers in many parts of the Swiss Alps following heavy snowfalls.

MIS/HJL/SS

Related Stories:

Four die in Swiss Alps avalanches Mon. Jan. 6, 2014

Avalanche kills four in Switzerland Sat. Mar. 26, 2011

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