Kyle Smaine: US professional skier 'killed in Japan after being thrown 50 metres and buried by avalanche'

A US professional skier has been named as one of two people killed in an avalanche in Japan. Friends say Kyle Smaine, 31, was among five foreign skiers caught up in the huge snow flow while on Hakuba Norikura mountain, near the Tsugaike ski resort, on Sunday. Another man, said to be from Austria, also died in the avalanche, while three other skiers managed to get down the mountain on their own, police said.