The BBC's Andy Clark: "Celebratory gun salute may have loosened snow"

Around 400 people were celebrating New Year inside the gymnasium in the town of Kangiqsualujjuaq, over 1,500km north of Montreal, when the wall of snow crashed through the building just after midnight. The building was covered in up to 3 metres of snow.

Marc Lavalle is helping to coordinate the rescue efforts

Police have now accounted for all of those who were in the building.

The authorities are investigating reports that a celebratory gun salute about 90 minutes before the avalanche may have loosened the snow.

Tons of snow

The remote community is said to be devastated by the accident

"It was like an explosion," said school principal Jean Leduc. "You heard an immense crack and the wall was flying into pieces and, the next thing you knew, the gym was entirely covered in snow."

Six people died shortly after the avalanche struck.

The bodies of a mother and her two young children were discovered buried under tons of snow several hours later.

Airlift delayed

Blizzards delayed efforts to airlift survivors to hospital and doctors had to call in translators as many of the injured spoke neither French nor English.

Two injured boys arrive at hospital in Montreal

Conditions have since improved with temperatures during the day of around -16 C and winds of 40kph considered to be mild weather.

Twelve of the injured are in hospital in the town of Kuujjuaq, 300 km away, whilst another 12 were airlifted to hospitals in the state capital, Montreal, because of a lack of medical facilities in the remote region.

A spokesman for Montreal General Hospital said all the injured there were "in a critical condition but stable".