REVELSTOKE, British Columbia (AP) -- Eight back-country skiers from the United States were killed and two were injured when an avalanche crashed down a mountainside Monday in eastern British Columbia, officials said.
The snow slide occurred near the Durrand Glacier, 20 miles northeast of the town of Revelstoke in the Canadian Rockies.
Regional coroner Ian McKichan said eight people died and two were injured. The victims' names and hometowns were not immediately released. Earlier reports said there had been 20 skiers.
The party of skiers from the United States had traveled by helicopter to a remote camp in the Rocky Mountains, using that as a base for ski touring, said Bob Pearce, a spokesman for the B.C. Ambulance Service.
The survivors were transported to a Revelstoke hospital. Pearce said that at least one was in stable condition but the status of the other was not known.
``There are five ambulance crews at the heliport in Revelstoke where a makeshift morgue has been set up,'' Pearce said.
Ingrid Boaz at Selkirk Mountain Experience said the party caught in the avalanche had been flown to the company's chalet on the glacier. She said she did not know where the group was from.
The Selkirk firm's Web site says the Revelstoke-based company, founded in 1985, caters to adventurers who enjoy the mountains. It describes the area around Durrand Glacier as ``very remote and wild.''
Backcountry skiers ``wear special ski gear, climb up hills, lock into their skis and ski down,'' said Clair Israelson, director of the Canadian Avalanche Association in Revelstoke.
Israelson said 50 people havew been killed in British Columbia snow slides in the past five years, including 10 this year.
