One person has been killed and nine others injured after an avalanche buried about 10 houses on the Svalbard archipelago in the heart of the Norwegian Arctic.

The governor’s office said a 40-year-old man was killed by the avalanche on the slopes of Mount Sukkertoppen overlooking Longyearbyen, the archipelago’s remote capital where coal-mining families and polar bears live side by side.

A spokesman for the local hospital said nine people – four children and five adults – were injured, with two children and an adult listed in serious condition.

The local government initially reported several missing, before announcing on Saturday afternoon that everybody was accounted for.

About 10 brightly coloured wooden houses, typical of the style found in the archipelago, were buried by the avalanche.

Witnesses said the snow had shifted the houses set on hillsides by about 20 metres.

One resident, Kine Bakkeli, told NRK public television she managed to escape through a window. “It’s complete chaos here,” she said.

A team of doctors was planning to set out from the Norwegian city of Tromso for Longyearbyen in the nation’s frozen north.

Norwegian daily Aftenposten reported that 40 homes in the area were evacuated in case another avalanche hit.

Emergency accommodation has been set up in a youth centre and the town’s church.

Weather conditions have been harsh since Friday with authorities warning people to take care in high winds.

Longyearbyen is the world’s most northerly town, situated about halfway between continental Norway and the North Pole.