An airlift to evacuate 10,000 tourists from the Austrian valley hit by two fatal avalanches was completed yesterday, as rescuers searched for the last victim of the tragedy which killed nearly 40 people.
By nightfall only one victim - believed to be a young German girl, whose parents are among the dead - was still missing in Galtuer, where a massive avalanche struck on Tuesday, followed by another snowslide on Wednesday.
The bodies of the dead in Austria's worst avalanche tragedy in decades were expected to be transferred either later yesterday or today to Innsbruck, where they will be remembered in a ceremony at the city's cathedral.
Condolences poured in from world leaders including Britain's Queen Elizabeth, President Yeltsin of Russia and the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder - many of the victims were German tourists.
As weather remained good for a second day yesterday, about 35 helicopters, including 10 American Blackhawk aircraft, resumed the airlift shortly after dawn.
"It is normal that people are keen to leave after being imprisoned by the snow for a week," said the regional police chief, Mr Erwin Koler, in the town of Landeck at the bottom of the valley, where the airlift was based.
Meanwhile, authorities denied they had ignored warnings over the deadly snowslides in Galtuer and the neighbouring hamlet of Valzur in the Paznaun valley.
But one tourism official in Ischgl, just along the Paznaun valley from the double tragedy, said the evacuation of the neighbouring hamlet of Valzur, hit by a further avalanche on Wednesday, was delayed.
"It was clear on Wednesday morning that the safety of the people in Valzur could not be guaranteed," the official, Mr Alfons Parth, said.
Mr Koler denied that any of the buildings hit in the Galtuer snowslide were in so-called "at risk" zones.
The road into the valley has been blocked since before last weekend.
Experts are investigating whether it can be re-opened, but have so far said the risk of new avalanches is too great.
A baby boy was born on board a helicopter flying his mother to hospital from the snowed-in village of Holzgau in the Lech valley that borders Germany.
A dog emerged alive after being buried for 24 hours in the Valzur avalanche in which its German owners were killed.
Avalanche tragedies in the Alps and record snowfalls have hit Swiss tourism, but hotel and tour operators gave conflicting predictions yesterday for the industry's longer term prospects.
Avalanche experts said the worst seemed to be over after a series of lethal snow slides killed at least 10 people and left two missing and presumed dead in Switzerland.
Most tunnels and roads reopened, ensuring access to previously snowbound areas.
The warmer temperatures could still trigger avalanches, but the danger of slides and further loss of life had receded overall, experts said.