Tourists helicoptered down from Swiss mountain resort after mudslide cuts off road access

GENEVA -- Helicopter crews ferried down scores of tourists stranded atop of one of Switzerland's most popular mountain resorts on Friday after a mudslide a day earlier cut off road access until next week.

Teams from Air Zermatt rescue and helicopter service led the operation for what Swiss media said were about 2,200 tourists — mostly Swiss — caught at the Saas Fee resort in the southern Valais region.

Valais authorities said a downpour overnight Wednesday to Thursday caused several rivers in the Saas Valley to overflow their banks between the towns of Stalden and Saas-Balen. They said the road was likely to be closed until at least early next week.

Local TV Canal 9 on Thursday aired video of surging, muddy and rock-laden torrents spilling across a road.

On Friday, public broadcaster RTS broadcast images of a long line of people, some dressed in hiking gear, waiting for the flights out.

British and Belgian tourists spoke about their dilemmas to the broadcaster, while some others stranded were shown making the best of the situation by toasting beers at a restaurant.

A spokesman for Air Zermatt said it wasn't immediately able to estimate how many people had been evacuated in the late-afternoon operation that ran before nightfall.