Avalanche engulfs around a dozen people at Swiss ski station

An avalanche at a ski station in the Swiss Alps engulfed up to a dozen people on Tuesday, a local official and media reports said, with hopes fading of finding survivors in a disaster that hit a resort busy with skiers on school holidays.

The avalanche hit the Plaine-Morte ski slope in Crans-Montana, southwestern Switzerland, in the early afternoon, local police said in a tweet. A local newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, quoted the head of Crans-Montana's municipal government, Nicolas Feraud, as estimating that "between 10 and 12 people" remained buried under the snow.

There was no official confirmation of any deaths.

"We are shocked and hope for good news about these people," Feraud was quoted as saying.

A first attempt at locating victims using sniffer dogs was unsuccessful, a rescue worker told Le Nouvelliste, with four helicopters joining the search from the air.

Pierre Huguenin, of the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, described the snow in the area as damp and dense.

"These ...