Innsbruck - Three Austrian mountain guides were acquitted of manslaughter yesterday after being tried on charges of negligently causing the death of nine German skiers in an avalanche last year, the state broadcaster, ORF, said.
The trial judge, Ms Ingrid Brandstaetter, found the guides not guilty of the deaths on December 28th, 1999, when the group was engulfed in the Jamtal Valley 200 metres from the hut where they had planned to see in the new year.