SPATE OF SLIDES

Intense Clip Shows Moment Skiers Are Smothered by Avalanche

It is just the latest slide to rock the Alps.

Astonishing new footage has captured the moment dozens of skiers were enveloped in an avalanche. The dramatic video from Val Veny, Courmayeur, Italy, comes amid a spate of fatal slides in Europe, with at least two people killed at the resort on Sunday. In the footage, multiple angles showed people in awe as the astonishing phenomenon tumbled down the mountain toward them. That awe was soon replaced with worry as people realized they were about to be hit by the cloud, turning their bodies away from the incoming avalanche. Seconds later they were enveloped, as snow and debris whistled past the camera. The Daily Beast has been unable to verify whether the avalanche in the clip is the one that killed at least two people in the same area on Sunday, amid a torrent of contradictory reports. It’s just another in a spate of avalanches in the Alps, with at least 27 people killed in the French portion of Europe’s biggest mountain range alone this year. Two Brits were killed in the popular resort of Val d’Isère on Friday, and on Tuesday, another Brit and a Polish-British national were also killed in La Grave.