Avalanches kills 33

In the western Austrian village of Galtuer, where at least 28 people were killed, scores of rescuers used long metal probes to search for at least three people still believed to be buried beneath tons of snow.

Videotapes brought back by rescue teams showed cars crushed by walls of snow or hurled like toys by the force of Tuesday's avalanche. The top floor of one house was missing as if sliced off by a giant razor blade.

Roads into the mountainous area remained blocked yesterday, but maintenance crews worked steadily, hoping to clear them by this afternoon. Dozens of helicopters ferried food supplies into the area. Choppers from the German army and police, Switzerland and U.S. army bases in Germany reinforced pilots from the Austrian Army.

buried beneath tons of snow.

Videotapes brought back by rescue teams showed cars crushed by walls of snow or hurled like toys by the force of Tuesday's avalanche. The top floor of one house was missing, as if sliced off by a giant razor blade.

Roads into the mountainous area remained blocked yesterday, but maintenance crews worked steadily, hoping to clear them by this afternoon. Dozens of helicopters ferried food supplies into the area. Choppers from the German army and police, Switzerland and U.S. army bases in Germany reinforced pilots from the Austrian army.

Dozens of helicopters ferried food and supplies into the stricken area, and brought out tourists. Choppers from the German army and police, Switzerland and U.S. army bases in Germany reinforced pilots from the Austrian army.

The U.S. Blackhawks and other helicopters shuttling survivors out to Landeck landed in a swirl of snow on a blocked-off autobahn outside of town. A string of buses there took vacationers to an army camp where psychological counseling was available. From there, the travelers boarded trains for the final leg of the journey home.

The 4-year-old Austrian boy, whose name was not released, was dubbed ''the miracle of Valzur'' for surviving 100 minutes under the snow in the second of two deadly avalanches that killed dozens in western Austria.

When rescuers found him late Wednesday, he was frozen and had no circulation. He was rushed to nearby Galtuer, where doctors saved his life by slowly ''warming him up'' before sending him to a hospital in the town of Zams.

''When he arrived at the hospital he had a pacifier in his mouth, and he even smiled a little,'' Dr. Alois Schranz told the Austria Press Agency.

''The boy is well. He eats normally, he talks and plays,'' pediatrician Irene Walch told The Associated Press. She said he would remain under observation.

Meanwhile, authorities warned that the risk of more avalanches remained extremely high due to rising temperatures and fresh snow. Another slide hit Neustift in the Stubai Valley south of Innsbruck late Thursday, but initial reports said no one was missing.

Another avalanche in Switzerland, set off artificially Thursday with explosives, injured at least one person.

Among the 28 people confirmed dead in the Galtuer snowslide were five Dutch - two fathers and their children. Twenty-three people, eight of them injured, had been rescued from the village. The search continued Thursday, concentrating on two ruined houses where 10 bodies, including several children, were pulled out of the deep snow, the Austria Press Agency reported.

The other five confirmed dead were from the neighboring village of Valzur. Three more bodies were uncovered there Thursday and at least two others were missing.

Suffocation is the most likely cause of death in an avalanche, followed by being crushed by the weight of the snow.

About 2,500 tourists were helicoptered out of Galtuer on Thursday and hundreds of others were flown from nearby villages and hamlets. But about 1,000 remained in Galtuer, refusing to end their holidays.

Weary survivors arriving in Munich, Germany, said they were glad to be back.

Hans Weimann, 77, said the avalanche started with an incredible noise that ''got louder and louder,'' before everything went white.

The Galtuer avalanche is the worst to hit central Europe this winter, as the region endures its heaviest snowfall in 50 years. More than 70 people across Europe have died in avalanches this year.

In Switzerland, the man-made avalanche that hit the southern ski resort of Luekerbad on Thursday sent one person to the hospital with a suspected heart attack. Several others were treated for shock.

In the past few weeks, officials have set off hundreds of controlled avalanches to limit the potential for devastation. But there is currently so much snow that even deliberate explosions have become risky.

Rescuers on the French side of the Alps brought down three stranded French hikers Thursday who had been huddled in a makeshift igloo for 10 days after losing their way in a blizzard.

They were flown by helicopter to a hospital in Moutiers and pronounced ''weak but safe and sound.''

The men, all skilled mountaineers, called in their location using a cellular phone before the battery went dead last week, but severe weather prevented rescuers from reaching them until Thursday.

02-26-99