Bad weather: Several people were left trapped in a the chairlift in Vorarlberg ski resort in Austria, during a severe snow storm
Bad weather: Several people were left trapped in a the chairlift in Vorarlberg ski resort in Austria, during a severe snow storm
A video showing terrified skiers stuck in a chairlift swinging violently from side to side has emerged as Storm Eleanor sweeps through Europe after battering Britain.

The footage was shot at the Vorarlberg ski resort in Austria, where several people were left trapped in the lift system as the strong winds suddenly took hold.

Another video filmed nearby shows members of the resort staff climbing up onto the system to try to rescue the skiers, having to hold on as best they can while the snow storm is raging around them.


Elsewhere, both the French and Italian Alps have been on maximum avalanche alert today and several ski resorts closed their runs and lift systems due to the weather.

In France, major resort Val d'Isere closed its runs for the day because of heavy snowfall, while Chamonix said it was shutting many of its lifts as a precautionary measure.



'The objective is to keep everyone safe,' said David Ponson, ski chief in the Alpine Savoie region, as many pistes were shut for a second day.

Eleanor, the fourth winter storm to hit Europe since December, swept into the continent on Wednesday after battering Britain and Ireland.

It has left at least six people dead, including a 21-year-old skiier hit by a falling tree in France and a couple in their 60s swept away on Spain's northern Basque coast by a huge wave.

A 45-year-old woman and her 11-year-old daughter died after being hit by an avalanche while skiing in Vinschgau, in South Tyrol in Italy.

On Thursday, firefighters said a woman in her 90s died of a heart attack in Crets-en-Belledonne in the French Alps after floods sent a torrent of mud and water into her home.

And a volunteer rescuer was reported missing after rushing to help when a car plunged into an overflowing river in the Alpine village of Le Moutaret.

At Lenk in central Switzerland, eight people were hurt when a violent gust of wind overturned a railway carriage.

The worst of the storm appeared to have passed by Thursday, though much of eastern France was still on 'orange' alert for heavy winds, floods and avalanches.

'The intensity of the rain and melting snow bring a risk of floods via overflowing streams and mudslides,' warned forecaster Cecile Coleou.

About 29,000 French homes remained without power, a third of them in Corsica.