DOGS OF ST. BERNARD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 February 1927, Page 9

DOGS OF ST. BERNARD.

RUSH TO VICTIMS OF AVALANCHE BODIES DUG OUT FROM SNOW GENEVA, Dec. 15. The uvalanche which fell yesterday near the famous hospice of the Great St. Bernard Pass provided one of the most dramatic episodes in the eventful history of that region. A, party of five monks and five .students .set out on .skis to' make a tour of the neighbourhood, when one of them .suggested that they should visit the .scene of an avalanche which had fallen earlier in the day. The track of the avalanche lay between the hospice and the little Italian Customs House, lower down the valley. The monks had already traversed the clanger zone, when, with a roar like thunder, another avalanche of powdery snow 200 yards wide fell, sweeping the five students away. Two of them freed themselves, hut, despite the frantic efforts of the monks, no trace could be found of the others. A messenger on „skis was then .sent to the hospice to fetch the famous dogs Which litre named after St. Bernard. The powerful and intelligent animals, specially trained for rescue work in alpine snows, arrived on the scene haying loudly. With their unerring instinct they began burrowing feverishly and very soon, the body, stil Iwarm, of one student, named) Luirier, was recovered. Artificial respiration was tried for six hours but was unsuccessful. The bodies of the other two student? were recovered in a similar manner, jbut both, were dead. ■ A; column was then formed and a mounrful procession went hack to the hospice, where the bodies were interred in the little vault where the victims of so many alpine tragedies repose.