This is the moment soldiers work overtime to clear snow from a hotel hit by an avalanche as blizzards cause chaos across Europe.
Shocking footage shows the snow over three feet high up the walls in the dining room of a hotel in Ramsau am Dachstein, a ski resort in the Austrian state of Styria.
On Monday night, the town was hit by a massive avalanche due to the heavy snowfall accumulating on the nearby mountains.
The avalanche, which started on a nearby mountain at an altitude of about 2,600 metres (8,530 feet) hit the town in the valley.
It covered a hotel and one apartment complex and was so powerful it overturned several cars and even a bus in a car park.
Yesterday [Tuesday], dozens of soldiers were dispatched to the town to help clear up the snow.
Video footage shows the soldiers shovelling snow out of the hotel which had its windows smashed by the powerful avalanche.
None of the 60 guests staying in the hotel were injured in the incident as it happened late at night.
According to the mountain rescue service in Ramsau, five teams with sniffer dogs searched the deep snow for people who might have possibly been engulfed by the avalanche.
In the end, nobody in the town was reported injured or missing.
By mayoral order, the local school and nursery in Ramsau remained closed as citizens were ordered only to venture out on secured access roads.
In recent days, there have been ten fatalities due to avalanches in Austria.
President Stefan Hochstaffl of the Austrian Mountain Rescue said: “No one can say at the moment that they do not know about the danger of avalanches. Nobody can be such a fool.”
Local media report that there are however still skiers and snowboarders ignoring avalanche warnings and even climbing over barricades put up by local authorities to cordon off avalanche-prone areas.
Last week in the ski resort of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg, three snowboarders had to be rescued from an avalanche-prone slope after ignoring such warnings.
The public prosecutor’s office called for an investigation against the three as by venturing into the area they triggered multiple avalanches which almost engulfed a separate rescue mission going on further down the same slope.
Barbara Fischer of the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office said: “This was highly irresponsible. When the prosecution became aware of it, the security authorities were tasked to investigate and file criminal complaints against the three snowboarders.”
Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
