America.. 8 skiers were confirmed dead in an avalanche

US authorities said yesterday that eight skiers were killed in an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, while one person was still missing, making the accident one of the largest avalanches in terms of the number of deaths in US history.

Rescuers reached six survivors, including a man and five women, late yesterday, amid a severe winter storm that dumped several feet of new snow on the high Sierra mountains in the past few days.