 The Austrian authorities have issued alerts to ski resorts |
Rescuers have resumed their search for a missing snowboarder after at least four people died in avalanches in Austria. The 31-year-old American has been missing since the snow slide hit off-piste slopes at St Anton in the Austrian Alps on Saturday.
Three Canadians died in the avalanche, while some other skiers are reported to have climbed out of the deep snow.
Austrian authorities have put winter resorts on high alert for avalanches.
A combination of heavy snowfalls, strong winds and subsequent mild temperatures has made the snow cover unstable.
In another avalanche on Saturday, a German snowboarder was killed in Montafon in Austria's western Vorarlberg region.
Austrian authorities recently launched a new service that uses mobile phone text messages to deliver avalanche warnings to skiers and snowboarders on the slopes.
But emergency workers say people are taking unnecessary risks to find virgin snow.
"If they lack knowledge and the necessary background information, then it's just carelessness - pure and simple," alpine gendarme Roland Mattle told Austrian television.
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