[SIZE="1"]If this picture looks amateurish it's because I took it. [/SIZE]
An avalanche in northern Japan killed two backcountry skiers and injured seven others Wednesday, police said.
After battling a blizzard for hours, rescuers pulled out a missing skier alive from underneath the avalanche, which struck in the northern state of Aomori.
The rescue brought the total number of injured to seven, police spokesman Akio Kuzuhara said. The condition and details of the other skiers were not immediately known.
The disaster struck shortly before noon on Mount Hakkoda in Aomori when the party of 24 — all Japanese nationals — were skiing down the ungroomed mountain trails.
Kuzuhara said police later located a separate group of seven Australians who were earlier feared missing, saying they had been trying to help dig out victims.
Aomori is about 360 miles northeast of Tokyo.
