Chilling moment barely visible avalanche buries skiers alive, killing 2

The deadly avalanche buried many people, killing 2, who had been skiing in an off-piste area near St Anton in Austria's western region of Tyrol on Friday.



The tracks of the skiers could be seen weaving down the slope, before the group were submerged in a massive pack of ice that broke off the side of the mountain.Members of the mountain rescue emergency service could be seen scouring the area for survivors after the avalanche.
The two men were found dead, but their gender and nationalities have not yet been established, a police spokesman said.
It comes after four mountain climbers were killed in an avalanche in the same province.
The climbers were part of an eight-person ski touring group when the avalanche hit at about 12:30pm on Wednesday.
Four people in the group were able to free themselves from the snow on their own and alerted rescue crews.
The avalanche came on the 2,450-metre-high Jochgrubenkopf mountain, southeast of Innsbruck, and measured about 700-metres-long with the snow depth reaching 12 metres.
The group of eight people were using touring skis, with which one can climb and descend, making remote areas accessible.
A total of 267 people died in the Austrian Alps last year, down from an average of 297 over the past 10 years, including 17 in avalanches, according to the Austrian Alpine safety board.
And in Italy, two backcountry skiers are believed to have died in an avalanche near the Swiss border, while a third skier survived unharmed.
Spokesman Walter Milan said the three skiers were on a mountain above the village of Lanzada, 150 kilometers northeast of Milan at about 3000 metres above sea level.
They were struck Friday by an avalanche about 300 meters wide.
One skier escaped unharmed, while the other two, ages 43 and 53, were carried down a jagged, rocky slope. Three helicopters responded to the emergency.
Nearly 30 skiers have been killed in the Italian Alps this season, a significant increase over last year. Walter said an icy under-layer has elevated the avalanche risk, making even minor accumulations unstable.