Death toll of off-piste skiiers in Swiss Alps rises to 10

GENEVA - Another person has died after being overcome by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps while skiing off-piste, police said Sunday, bringing the death toll in such accidents to 10 in the past four days.

The woman, who died overnight in hospital, was part of a group of nine skiers hit by an avalanche on Saturday afternoon on the Piz Vilan mountain where they were skiing at an altitude of some 2,200m.

Four other members of the party died, while two were seriously injured.

Also Saturday, a 31-year-old Swiss man was killed by an avalanche while he was skiing off-piste in the Bernese Oberland, and in the same area a 28-year-old Swiss snowboarder was engulfed by snow and died.

Another three off-piste skiers died Thursday and Friday.

Up to 1.2m of snow has fallen in the region in recent days, and authorities had made repeated avalanche warnings.