Swiss train derailed by avalanche with multiple casualties feared

Five people were injured when a train derailed in Switzerland following an avalanche on Monday morning, police said after a frantic effort to reach trapped passengers.

Several carriages were forced off the line near the village of Goppenstein, in the southwestern Valais canton, at around 7am. Police said an avalanche may have crossed the tracks shortly before the train passed through.

Eight mountain rescuers, two ambulances and a helicopter were brought in to help evacuate the 29 passengers on board. One person was taken to the hospital in nearby Sion, while four others were treated for injuries at the scene.

Only last week, authorities warned there was a high risk of avalanches in the canton, amid a period of heavy snowfall across the Alps.

At least four off-piste skiers, including two British citizens, have been killed in avalanches in the French Alps in recent days.

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Valais police said that all passengers had been safely evacuated from the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS) AG regional train by midday, as they launched a probe to pin down the cause of the accident.

A spokesperson for the railway company earlier told 20 Minuten that the train derailed “due to an avalanche that came down in the Stockgraben area”.

BLS said that other services on the Frutigen-Brig line would be suspended until at least tomorrow morning. Snow still covered the tracks around the train as emergency services cordoned off the scene today.

The train derailed between Goppenstein and Hohtenn as it emerged from a tunnel during its journey south from Spiez to Brig.

Swiss monitors last week warned that there was a high risk of an avalanche in Valais amid a period of heavy snowfall and harsh winds.

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The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) raised its threat level to four, the second highest on its scale, on 11 February.

The WSL warned that a fresh layer of snow was settling on an older, weak layer, making avalanches more likely in many areas.

The warning was still in place across swathes of the country on 16 February.

In the midst of the European ski season, at least four skiers in the Alps have been killed by avalanches in recent days.

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Two people were killed in Saint-Agnes and Montgenevre last week while skiing off piste, authorities said. Two more off-piste tourers were killed near Saint-Veran earlier this month.

At least 66 people have died in avalanches this European ski season, according to the European Avalanche Warning Services.

The organisation, which forecasts risk, says that snow avalanches claim an average of 100 lives in Europe every year.