100 missing after Russia avalanche

The avalanche left a trail of utter devastation

Up to 100 people are missing after a powerful avalanche hit a village in southern Russia late on Friday night.

The avalanche travelled about 35km with a lightening speed

The deluge of mud and snow has swamped the village of Karmadon in the republic of North Ossetia, about 940 miles (1,500 km) south-east of Moscow.

Rescue workers found the bodies of 17 people, but were forced to stop the search because of darkness and danger of further shifts of the mass of ice.

There are fears that the number of missing will increase as the area is a popular tourist destination and many people usually come on Fridays to spend a short weekend break.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that all necessary emergency procedures were "now in position", and that the main priorities were to find the missing and to restore essential services in the region.

"It is a major disaster, I can't remember anything like it," he said.

Flood fears

The avalanche travelled about 35km with a lightening speed, smashing everything in its way - houses, trees, cars - and leaving a trail of utter devastation.

It is thought to have been triggered when a piece of a glacier - about a third of the entire glacier, according to the Russian president - broke off from the Caucasus mountains and slid down to the village below.

BBC correspondents say an earth tremor appears to have caused the piece of glacier to break off.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has sent a plane with specialists and sniffer dogs to aid in the search for victims, emergency officials in North Ossetia told Russia's Interfax news agency.

A key road has been blocked, hampering efforts by rescue workers to reach those trapped.

Rivers were also reported to have been blocked, raising fears that local villages could be flooded.

Film star and crew missing

The nearby village of Gizel, with about 3,000 inhabitants, may have to be evacuated as a precaution, rescue services said.

Sergei Bodrov and his crew are among the missing

Around 60 tourists have also been evacuated from the region, although none are thought to be injured, Interfax reported.

The republic's emergency ministry also has sent supplies to villages cut off by the avalanche.

Among the missing is a well-known Russian actor Sergei Bodrov and his crew of more than 20 film-makers, Russian news agency say.