Spring snow causes havoc in Switzerland

May 29, 2007, 17:51 GMT

Berne - Twelve people, six Swiss and six Germans, were rescued by helicopter Tuesday after being stranded in a mountain cabin in Switzerland's Grindelwald region.

Heavy snowfalls in the Swiss Alps Monday had caught out several parties of walkers particularly in the Bernese Oberland, according to the Swiss air rescue service REGA. They were sheltering in refuges and were in no danger.

In Arvigo in Canton Grisons, 400 people remained cut off after rocks equivalent in mass to 150 houses came crashing down in Val Calanca overnight Monday.

The area had been placed on alert by geologists 24 hours earlier and the road closed after movement was detected by specially placed sensors. Earlier in the day, explosives were used to trigger further rockfalls as a precaution.

Experts believed that between 200,000 and 300,000 tons of rocks, double the quantity that had fallen so far, remained unstable and could come crashing down next week.

Helicopters were to be used Wednesday to bring in supplies to 12 villages cut off by the road closure.

Several rail services were disrupted in the past 48 hours. Services on the Jungfrau railway, which carries tourists from Interlaken up the Swiss Alps were fully resumed Tuesday.

Snow had brought down trees which had cut power lines Monday. One party of 400 visitors had been forced to spend the day stuck at 3,000 metres until power was restored in the evening.

The Matterhorn-Gotthard rail link in canton Valais was expected to be working again by this evening (Tuesday) after the line was closed between Stalden and St-Niklaus amid fears of a rockfall.

Several mountain passes are closed including Gotthard, the Grand St Bernard, le Nufenen and le Grimsel.