Five skiers killed in French Alps

Five people were killed in the French Alps on Wednesday. Three of them were caught in an avalanche and two mountainers fell to their deaths.

Three skiers, two Austrian and one Italian, were killed in an avalanche on the Massif des Ecrins in the French Alps on Wednesday afternoon.

Another Austrian skier was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

The avalanche happened in the Col Emile Pic near France's Ecrins national park about 40 kilometres west of the Italian border and at over 3,000 metres altitude.

The victims were visiting France and were part of a group of 11 tourists on a skiing holiday.

Seven other people in the same group were able to make it to safety.

Elsewhere in the same region, on the Massif du Dévoluy, two mountaineers were found dead after a fall on Wednesday afternoon.