Heavy snowfall in Swiss ski resort Zermatt leaves 13,000 people trapped

Snowed in: Workers clear the road beside the Zermatt train station after heavy snowfall
AFP/Getty Images
Eleanor Rose9 January 2018

Heavy snowfall at a Swiss ski resort left up to 13,000 people trapped as mountain roads and train lines were blocked.

Swiss authorities closed ski slopes, hiking trails, cable cars, roads and train services into the popular ski resort of Zermatt amid an extreme risk of avalanches.

“Arrivals and departures are to and from Zermatt are not possible at the moment,” the resort said on its website.

“All hiking paths and cable cars remain closed – please follow instructions. We kindly ask you to stay at home.”

Trains remain blocked by snow on the railway tracks at the Zermatt train station
AFP/Getty Images

The avalanche risk in the mountain village, which sits near the famous Matterhorn peak, was raised to the highest level of five on Monday evening, according to regional president Romy Biner-Hauser.

Road access to the popular resort, home to about 5,500 people, was blocked on Monday morning but an update on Facebook announced it would reopen at 3pm Tuesday.

Zermatt tourist office confirmed that trains have also stopped and an airlift has been put in place while crews work to clear the snow.

Snow way out: Workers work to clear drifts beside the Zermatt train station 
AFP/Getty Images

Tourists took to social media to post pictures of the village covered in a thick layer of snow.

"Zermatt snowbound," wrote one woman next to a picture of white-covered houses.

Janine Imesch of the Zermatt tourism office said power has been restored after an earlier outage.

She said people were not risk because authorities blocked access to the nearby ski slopes and hiking trails a day earlier, and added: "There is nothing to panic about, everything is fine."

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