Two Britons are among three skiers killed in an avalanche in the French Alps, as extreme warnings were issued across the region. The pair were part of a group of five people, accompanied by an instructor, off-piste skiing in Val d’Isère, south-east France. A French national skiing alone also died.
Albertville prosecutor Benoît Bachelet confirmed the ski instructor, who avoided injury, tested negative for alcohol and drugs. Another British person sustained minor injuries. A manslaughter investigation has been launched by the Albertville public prosecutor’s office and will be carried out by CRS Alpes mountain rescue police.
France’s national weather service had issued a red alert for avalanche risk for the area on Thursday. The deaths come amid a deadly period in the European Alps, where avalanches have claimed at least 17 lives in recent days.
In the Italian Alps, avalanches killed 11 people in the space of seven days due to exceptionally unstable snow conditions. Among the victims was a 70-year-old hiker found dead last Sunday in the Veneto region, which is hosting the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Italy’s rescue service said the risk of avalanches was present across most of the Alpine range, warning that fresh snow accumulating on older, unstable layers can be triggered by the movement of a single skier.
