Avalanche buries hotels; 39 dead
VAL D'ISERE, France (UPI)—With a "sudden dreadful thunder" as the only warning, a massive avalanche engulfed two Alpine hotels under tons of snow Tuesday, crushing walls and killing dozens of young skiers as they ate breakfast. Scores were injured.
By late Tuesday night, the interior ministry placed the official death toll at 39, of which 23 had been identified. It said no other persons were reported missing in the worst avalanche in France since World War II.
The list of victims and their addresses released late Tuesday indicated that all of the dead were residents of France.
Hurtling down 10,000-foot high Dome Peak, the avalanche smashed through the dining room of a skiers' hostel where more than 200 French, Belgian and German youths were breakfasting. The avalanche engulfed the Eidelweiss Hotel.
Cars parked nearby were swept 150 yards by the wall of snow.
Blinding snowstorms cut visibility to zero and thwarted efforts to find snow-trapped skiers. Snow was still falling as darkness came after a day of frantic rescue work.
Winds hit gale force of 50 miles per hour and piled huge drifts along roads leading to the disaster area. Some ambulances got through but others could not reach the scene.
President Georges Pompidou dispatched Interior Minister Raymond Marcellin to help supervise rescue work.
Vivianne Euzenat of Paris said she was eating breakfast in the hostel when "there was this sudden deadful thunder."
"It smashed over the table where I was sitting and then I was in horrible darkness," she said. "It must have been more than a half hour before I lost consciousness. When I was dug out they told me I had been buried alive for two hours."
Benoit Miko, 21, of Brussels, said he heard the noise and then "was smashed right through the dining room and through the outside wall together with the snow."
Chantal Demure of Lyons said she also remembered the noise.
"The windows just smashed in. I was buried under the snow but was dug out immediately. All I can remember really is the noise and the table hurling about," said Miss Demure.
About 200 residents in the area of the disaster left their homes Tuesday night, fearing more avalanches.
It was the worst single avalanche disaster in Europe since 1965 when 100 persons were killed at Garmisch in West Germany. Three months after the Garmisch avalanche, another avalanche in Switzerland killed 88 persons.
Amendment proposed to Kansas constitution
TOPEKA (UPI) — A proposed constitutional amendment to overhaul the executive branch of state government was recommended for passage Tuesday by a house committee.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee on a vote of 14-4 recommended the proposal be adopted by the house.
The amendment would have the governor and lieutenant governor run as a team much the same as the president and vice president do on the national level.
The only other elective state offices would be the attorney general and the secretary of state. All four offices would have four-year terms, with no limit on the
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Shultz extended the invitation to testify that Awbrey suggested to him, in a letter, that students be permitted to testify before the Senate in matters related to students and the University.
terms. The present terms are two years.
Awbrey said that he and Morgan would testify against the proposed bills because the bills were unnecessary.
Senate Bills No. 417, 418, and 421 will be considered. The bills relate to student behavior on campus, access to student records and disciplinary actions against students and faculty members.
The U.S. Coast Guard was established Aug. 4, 1790.
All other state officers now elected would be appointed by the governor. This would include the treasurer, auditor, insurance commissioner and printer.
10 KANSAN Feb. 11 1970
David Awbrey, Hutchinson senior and student body president, and Christopher Morgan, Emporia junior and chairman of the Students Rights Committee, accepted an invitation from Sen. Reynolds Shultz, R-Lawrence, to appear before the Senate Education Committee at 11:30 a.m. today in the State House.
Shultz asks two students to testify
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