16-year-old Australian boy killed in an avalanche in Austria

A 16-year-old boy from Australia was killed in an avalanche in Austria as he was skiing with his family, local police said.

Snow has caused avalanches in Northern Europe. Rescue workers in Tamokdalen, Northern Norway.Credit:AP

The teenage boy, who is believed to be from NSW, was on holidays with his parents and younger brother when the avalanche struck in St Anton am Arlberg on Wednesday afternoon, local time.

The teenager and his mother were reportedly buried in the avalanche and, while the mother was able to free herself. Rescuers said the boy was buried under two metres of snow.

His family were unable to help as they had no emergency supplies or a shovel with them.

The family issued a call for help after running into trouble while skiing off-piste near the St Anton resort in Tyrol, a police spokesman said late on Wednesday.

Rescuers retrieved the boy's body 20 minutes later but he could not be revived.

The family, a German man and Australian woman and their children, live in Australia.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.

The boy's death occurred as heavy snowfall continued on Thursday in parts of Austria and southern Germany, with several places cut off and the bad weather expected to persist.

In neighbouring Slovakia, the mountain rescue service said a 37-year-old Slovak man was killed by an avalanche in the Mala Fatra mountains.

That brought to at least 16 the number of weather-related deaths reported in Europe over the past week.

Snow was causing problems in other parts of Europe, even in Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago.

Several railway lines in the Alps were closed because of the snow, trucks and cars got stuck for hours on a highway in southwestern Germany and schools were closed in parts of Bavaria.

Roads into several places were closed – although Galtuer in western Austria, where a massive avalanche in 1999 killed 31 people, was reachable again on Thursday after being cut off.

The Austrian minister responsible for tourism, Elisabeth Koestinger, said that "in most skiing areas, there is no reason for concern at present if people keep to the rules and don't leave the secured slopes."

Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported that the weather was expected to calm on Friday but further heavy snow could be expected on Sunday.

In the Czech Republic, around 9000 households were without electricity on Thursday after heavy snow in regions bordering Germany and Austria.

On Norway's Arctic Svalbard islands, more than 100 people were evacuated as a precaution because of a storm and the risk of avalanches. The Svalbard archipelago is 800 kilometres north of Norway's mainland.

Norwegian news agency NTB said 29 dwellings at the foot of the Sukkertoppen mountain were evacuated, and a school, kindergartens, a sports facility and public library closed. In the north of mainland Norway, authorities warned of a risk of avalanches.

AP

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