Val Di Mazia - Avalanches hit ski resorts in northern Italy and Switzerland yesterday, killing six skiers and injuring three others, rescuers said.
In Italy, a wall of snow swept away two groups of skiers at an altitude of about 3,000 metres in Val di Mazia, near the Austrian border, killing three people and injuring two. The dead were all women - two Germans and an Italian.
In Switzerland, three people died in an avalanche near the exclusive ski resort of Davos. Local prosecutors said two German skiers ignored warnings and were caught in a snowslide.
Meanwhile it was reported in Auckland that Japanese rescuers refused to search for three New Zealanders lost in an avalanche near Nagano in Japan until an agreement was struck over who would pay for the rescue. The New Zealand Herald quoted a friend of the three as saying the Japanese police would not search until they had received faxed confirmation of the trio's insurance cover.