An avalanche on the Slovak side of the High Tatra mountain range killed seven people Saturday in the worst accident of nearly a week of heavy snow in Europe, and transport was snarled on much of the continent, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). The dead - a woman 29, and six men aged 22 to 36, were tourists from the Czech Republic who had ignored warnings and gone skiing in the Rohace area. An eighth member of the party survived by digging his own way out of the snowslide. Travel in western Europe continued to be hampered Saturday by ice on roads and rails, and police appealed to motorists to stay home, but weather forecasters said a New Year thaw was on the way in the continent's western lowlands. A snowstorm had paralysed the Dutch rail network and caused severe delays at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport overnight. As temperatures rose, the falling snow turned to rain. This formed an even more slippery layer of ice when it fell on the frozen ground. In Germany, the snow that has blanketed the country for the past five days continued to fall lightly, but main highways and rail links remained open in most regions. But many roads in the Ore Mountains near the Czech border were closed by jack-knifed trucks. German police warned New Year revellers against driving, saying the rain would cause "black ice", making roads dangerous. --More 21 39 Local Time 18 39 GMT
