Avalanche boy leaves hospital

THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD Austrian boy who was pulled from under an avalanche and survived has been released in perfect health, a doctor said yesterday.

With the aid of a tracker dog, Alexander Walter was rescued from the snow in Valzur - site of one of last week's two avalanches in which 38 people died. He was clinically dead but was slowly warmed up and resuscitated by doctors in nearby Galtur, the other Tyrolean village hit by a fatal avalanche a day earlier.

Alexander's home was destroyed in the snow slide, and he and his mother have gone to stay with his grandparents. AP