Chid killed in avalanche in Austria

A 13-year-old has been killed by an avalanche while skiing off-piste in the Austrian alpine resort of Bad Gastein. 

The Czech teen was with another minor on Tuesday when the snow flurry swept him away at around midday, according to Bad Gastein's mountain rescue chief, Andreas Kandler.

Rescuers were unable to revive him.

His death comes after a weekend marked by several avalanches across the Alps following several days of heavy snow.

A 58-year-old ski tourer died on Sunday in an avalanche in the Tyrolean resort of Weerberg in the west.

Across the weekend in France, six skiers died after being caught in several avalanches in various alpine resorts.

A British man in his 50s is among those killed in the French Alps over the weekend.

The Briton was skiing off-piste at the La Plagne resort in south-eastern France when rescue teams received an avalanche alert on Sunday. 

A team of 50 people, including medics, ski school instructors and helicopter-deployed piste dogs, were called in.   

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The man was located after 50 minutes buried under eight feet of snow, but could not be revived, the resort said in a statement on its website. 

He was with a group when the avalanche struck, but was not equipped with an avalanche transceiver and was not with a professional instructor, it added. 

Separately in France, a 32-year-old skier died in an avalanche in Vallorcine, Haute-Savoie, after being swept away by an avalanche over the weekend.

French weather forecasters had warned of a high risk of avalanches this weekend. Officials in the Savoie region recorded at least six avalanches in the department's ski areas on Sunday morning. 

Gerhard Kremser, the mountain rescue chief in Pongau, central Austria, on Tuesday urged winter sports enthusiasts to exercise caution above the tree line.