Sion, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An avalanche that appears to have been set off by three unknown off-piste skiers in Anzères, Valais Sunday swept down a groomed slope and sent one slightly injured skier to the hospital. The accident is prompting questions in the Swiss media about how safe groomed slopes really are, if off-piste skiers are nearby. Valais police are asking the three skiers to turn themselves in. Tel: 027 326 5656.

Two skiers on the groomed slope were carried off by the avalanche at Ayent, which measured 200 metres wide by 400 metres long.

One of them freed himself and skied down, but the other, a 39-year-old man from Fribourg, was caught briefly. A rescue team of 130 people and eight dogs was called out to search for other possible victims, but none were found and no skiers have been declared missing.

Francois Dufour, safety manager for the Swiss federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, notes in a TSR television interview that grooming slopes involves clearing accumulated snow above and setting off explosions to prompt small, safe avalanches away from the slopes. He notes that no slope is 100 percent safe, and once or twice a year in Switzerland avalances reach groomed slopes.

Links to other sites: ats/Le Matin (Fre), Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, TSR (Fre)

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