Three people were killed, including an American, and a fourth critically injured after a devastating avalanche swept away a group of skiers in Canada, local officials said.

Three people were killed when a large avalanche swept away a group of skiers in Canada, officials said. The avalanche struck just before 1 p.m. on Monday when two groups of skiers had just finished skiing and were waiting in a staging area below the tree line of Clute Creek water shed in an alpine area on the east side of Kootenay Lake in the British Columbia backcountry,