Vienna - A major avalanche swept down an Austrian ski slope yesterday but tourists narrowly escaped being buried, local police said. Police said the avalanche struck in the mountainous Dachstein region in Upper Austria. Initial reports said up to 10 people had been buried.
The avalanche was set off by a skier and was 20 metres wide and half a metre thick. "No one was buried in the snow masses. No one is missing," a spokesman at the Upper Austrian police headquarters said.