Six people dead after avalanche in French Alps
The death toll rose to six on Monday morning with the discovery of another body after an avalanche on the slopes of Mont Blanc in southeastern France.
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The avalanches swept down the Armancette glacier on Sunday, killing two mountain guides and engulfing three separate groups of skiiers, each accompanied by qualified guides.
On Sunday, prosecutor Karline Bouisset said the body of a 39-year-old woman had been found, bringing the death toll to five. Early on Monday, the body of the sixth missing person was recovered.
One survivor suffered slight injuries in the avalanche while eight others were unharmed, local police said.
The avalanche affected a downslope area of 1,600 metres and was 500 metres wide.
Skiing conditions were described as "good" on Easter Sunday, the mayor of the town of Les Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told the AFP news agency. The three groups were following a regular cross-country ski route when the avalanche struck.
No warning of danger
No avalanche warning had been issued for the region by weather authority Météo France. A combination of a recent warm spell and high winds may have been behind the disaster, according to the authorities.
"It's a particularly alarming tragedy in such good conditions," said Dorian Labaeye, president of France's mountain guide union.
"We have tens of thousands of people doing ski touring at the moment in the Alps, there are usually lots of people on the Easter weekend and conditions are usually pretty stable at this time of year," he told the France Info radio station.
Among the dead are two mountain guides from the Alpine town of St Gervais. The identities of the other victims have not been made public.
"We're thinking of the dead and their families," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.
Au glacier d’Armancette dans les Alpes, une avalanche a fait des victimes. Nous pensons à elles, ainsi qu’à leurs familles. Pour retrouver les personnes encore bloquées dans la neige, nos forces de secours sont mobilisées. Nos pensées les accompagnent, elles aussi.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 9, 2023
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