Ex-Dutch Queen, Husband Among the Snowbound : Thousands of Skiers Trapped in Alps

Tens of thousands of skiers, including the former queen of the Netherlands, remained trapped in three Alpine ski resorts today after avalanches killed 10 people and injured at least 20 over the weekend.

It was the worst winter-sport death toll for a single weekend in Austria in decades.

Roads to the famed resorts of Lech, Zuers and Stuben were snowed in for a third straight day, and high winds prevented helicopters from reaching the three high-altitude towns.

Among those stranded in Lech were the former Dutch queen, Princess Juliana, and her husband Prince Bernhard.

‘Taking It With Good Humor’

“They were supposed to leave on Saturday but have been stuck here since then,” said a receptionist reached by telephone at the Hotel Post, where the Dutch royalty were staying.

“But they are enjoying the winter sports and taking it all with good humor like everyone else here,” she said.

Officials said thousands of the skiers, most of them vacationing West Germans and Scandinavians, could remain stranded until Tuesday because of the heavy snows and continued danger of avalanches.

The road to St. Anton was reopened today after seven people were killed and at least 20 injured in the resort town on Sunday.

Five vacationing Swedish skiers and two Austrians were killed in St. Anton early Sunday when two successive avalanches rolled down the steep mountains that tower above the resort and buried several chalets, authorities said.

Three others were killed in separate avalanches on Saturday.

Followed Death of Prince’s Friend

The accidents followed the death last week of a close friend of Britain’s Prince Charles, who was killed in the Swiss resort of Klosters by a snowslide that narrowly missed Charles.

The avalanches destroyed four houses, damaged several other buildings and buried the only train tracks leading into Innsbruck.

The exact number of those injured in the incident was not clear, but several people were taken by helicopter to hospitals in Innsbruck and nearby Zams.

St. Anton, set at 4,118 feet in the Arlberg region of Western Austria, is one of this Alpine nation’s oldest and best-known ski resorts.