Youngsters escape the Alps after avalanches

SCHOOL pupils on a skiing trip headed for home yesterday after avalanches across the Alps had left them stranded for five days.

Around 15 teenagers from Beaconsfield were airlifted out of Fiesch in Switzerland after nearby avalanches and heavy snowfalls caused chaos by blocking all roads out of the town.

The 12 pupils, on the trip organised by the Beaconsfield Team Ministry, were due to arrive home by coach today.

They were left without electricity and had to cope with a shortage of food after their resort was cut off by the nightmare conditions.

The group, led by youth leader Steve Chasham, went out to Switzerland on February 13 and had been due to return last Saturday.

The Rev John Wynburne, team rector of St Mary and All Saints' Church, in Wycombe End, Beaconsfield, said: "We are very relieved and delighted that they are on their way home. I am sure they are looking forward to getting home and even, I dare say, going back to school."

He added: "They have gone through an awful ordeal but they are all fine. The pupils are very much in our thoughts and prayers."

Stephen Nokes, deputy headteacher at Beaconsfield High School, said: "The pupils have been airlifted out of the town and are now on their way home. They are all very well and we are relieved that we shall be seeing them soon.

"The pupils are looking forward to getting back to their family and friends and we expect to see them on Monday."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.