Four killed in Austrian avalanches

Vienna - Four skiers were killed in western Austria on Sunday in the first fatal avalanches of the skiing season, according to…

Vienna - Four skiers were killed in western Austria on Sunday in the first fatal avalanches of the skiing season, according to media reports.

In the first incident, three German holidaymakers were killed and a fourth German was missing after an avalanche near the village of Obergurgl, broadcaster ORF said.

The dead - two men and a woman, all in their 20s - were members of a Mannheim ski club. The avalanche happened on slopes in the Oetz valley ski region, southwest of Inns bruck.

An Austrian skier was killed in a second avalanche at Goelbner, in east Tyrol, the BBC reported. It said four others were injured.