Avalanche accidents kill three in Swiss Alps during Christmas period

GENEVA, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Three people died in separate avalanche accidents in the Swiss Alps over the Christmas period, local Swiss media and police source said on Tuesday.

Swiss public radio reported Tuesday that a man who was skiing close to the 2,844-metre Hofathorn, in the canton of Valais, died after being carried away by an avalanche on Monday morning.

The Swiss public radio also reported that one of three walkers buried by a snow drift in Valais on Saturday had later found died. The report said the group was hiking at 2,700 metres in the St Luc region when the accident happened.

Police in eastern Switzerland's Graubunden said that a French tourist who went missing on Saturday had also been found dead, after triggering an avalanche which carried him more than a kilometre over rocky terrain.

According to the latest figure from the the Davos-based Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, nearly 2,000 people have lost their lives in almost 1,000 avalanches in the Swiss Alps and the Jura region since 1936. Enditem