Seven Czech climbers were killed today when an avalanche overwhelmed their camp in the Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia, the local news agency TASR reported.
One climber managed to escape when the avalanche surprised the Czechs in their tents this morning, the agency said.
The mountain rescue service launched a rescue operation involving two Slovak helicopters and one from neighboring Poland, but they were unable to save any of the seven climbers.
The avalanche followed heavy snowstorms and high winds which cut off the capital Bratislava and paralyzed most of the central European country on Friday.
The main highway linking Bratislava to central and northern Slovakia closed for a day because of a pileup involving up to 60 vehicles, in which four people were killed and up to 20 injured.