Two 19-year-old German men have been swept several hundred metres by an avalanche while hiking in the Austrian Alps, with one killed and the other seriously injured, according to authorities.
The men were part of a group of seven Germans from the southern state of Bavaria who were hiking on Tuesday near the town of Pertisau in Austria's Tyrol province, and began climbing a mountain known as the Bärenkopf.
After reaching an altitude of about 1,800 metres, the group decided to turn around and descend instead of making for the summit due to snow conditions.
But according to police, they were hit by an avalanche that broke loose about 30 metres above them on the mountain.
The two 19-year-olds who had been walking ahead of the group were caught in the avalanche.
The young man who was fatally injured was carried down about 330 metres by the avalanche and buried about 1 metre deep in snow. A mountain rescue team retrieved the man from the snow after more than an hour.
According to the police, the second 19-year-old was freed from the snow masses after being swept about 250 metres down the mountain.
He was rescued by a helicopter using rope and flown to hospital.
A police spokeswoman said she could not immediately provide information about the severity of the man's injuries.