Skiers trapped in ski lift as killer storm batters Austria

Footage shows the chairlift swinging violently in the strong winds.

A video showing terrified skiers stuck in a chairlift swinging violently from side to side has emerged as Storm Eleanor sweeps through Europe after battering Britain.

The footage was shot at the Vorarlberg ski resort in Austria, where several people were trapped in the lift system when the strong winds suddenly took hold.

Another video filmed nearby shows resort staff climbing on to the system to try to rescue the skiers, having to hold on as best they can while the snow storm rages around them.

The French and Italian Alps have been on maximum avalanche alert and several ski resorts closed their runs and lift systems because of the weather.

In France, major resort Val d'Isere closed its runs because of heavy snow, and Chamonix said it was shutting many of its lifts as a precautionary measure.

"The objective is to keep everyone safe," said David Ponson, ski chief in the Alpine Savoie region, as many pistes were shut for a second day.

Eleanor, the fourth winter storm to hit Europe since December, swept into the continent on Wednesday after battering Britain and Ireland.

It has killed at least six people, including a 21-year-old skiier hit by a falling tree in France and a couple in their 60s swept away on Spain's northern Basque coast by a huge wave.

A 45-year-old woman and her 11-year-old daughter died after being hit by an avalanche while skiing in Vinschgau, South Tyrol in Italy.

On Thursday, firefighters said a woman in her 90s died of a heart attack in Crets-en-Belledonne in the French Alps after floods sent a torrent of mud and water into her home.
And a volunteer rescuer was reported missing after rushing to help when a car plunged into an overflowing river in the Alpine village of Le Moutaret.

At Lenk in central Switzerland, eight people were hurt when a violent gust of wind overturned a railway carriage.

The worst of the storm appeared to have passed by Thursday, though much of eastern France was still on "orange" alert for heavy winds, floods and avalanches.

"The intensity of the rain and melting snow bring a risk of floods via overflowing streams and mudslides," warned forecaster Cecile Coleou.

About 29,000 French homes remained without power, a third of them in Corsica.