Helicopter evacuations from Saas Valley to continue on Monday

With road and rail links to Saas-Fee blocked, helicopter is one of the only ways out. Keystone-SDA

Some 550 stranded tourists were flown out of the Saas valley in southern Switzerland on Saturday. After further clearance work on Sunday, helicopter evacuations will resume on Monday morning.

The evacuation operations were initially set up on Friday for the 2,200-odd tourists stranded in and around the resort of Saas-Fee following a landslide on Wednesday night.

After 250 people were evacuated on Friday, Air Zermatt flew a further 550 from Saas-Fee to Stalden on Saturday, regional air traffic control authorities said. All those who waited for a flight managed to get one, they said. The waiting time was four hours.

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The next airlift of up to 300 people will happen Monday between 8am and noon. Authorities expect that by then, demand to be transported back down into the valley will be lower. On the other hand, people who need to travel up to Saas-Fee will also be able to do so. The short flight costs CHF140 ($166) per person.

Authorities are meanwhile not in a position to give precise details on the reopening of the cantonal road to Saas-Fee. On Saturday evening it emerged that blasting work to clear debris was still not fully completed, and would continue on Sunday

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The latest information suggests that the valley will remain closed until at least the beginning of next week.

Onlookers and people anxious to leave the valley on foot hampered the blasting work on Saturday, authorities added. They stressed that it is dangerous as well as disruptive to be in the area where the work is being carried out.

Adapted from French by DeepL/dos

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