The man, who was not named, was among two people in a party of nine British and US students who were hit by the snowslide on Sunday near Kandersteg, south of the capital Bern, regional police said.

“A 20 year-old student from the United States fell over a cliff about 100 meters high and suffered fatal injuries,” canton Bern police added in a statement.

A woman accompanying the group was flown by helicopter with serious injuries, they added.

The avalanche was triggered by a skier further up the mountainside, who was also caught but managed to raise the alarm, police said.