Avalanche kills 6, including mountain guides, in French Alps
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Local authorities report the death toll from Sunday’s avalanche in the French Alps has risen to six.
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In this photo provided by Contamines Montjoie, an avalanche rolls down the Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, France, in the Haute-Savoie region, some 30 kilometers (almost 20 miles) southwest of Chamonix, Sunday, April 9, 2023 (AP)
A massive body of snow rolled down the Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, in the Haute-Savoie region, on Sunday, killing four people and two mountain guides.
Emergency workers found the body of the sixth victim on Monday, while one person was sent to the hospital with slight injuries, and eight others were found unharmed, according to local authorities.
The bodies of the two guides and a couple in their twenties were found on Sunday, prosecutor Karline Bouisset said.
The avalanche unexpectedly occurred on a sunny day, covering an area of 1,600 meters (almost one mile) by 500 meters.
Skiing conditions were "good" on Easter Sunday, the mayor of the town of Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told AFP.
"I think it's the most deadly avalanche this season."
No avalanche alert was issued for the region by the weather authority Meteo France, and local authorities say a combination of warmth and wind may have been the reason for the disaster.
"It's a particularly alarming tragedy in such good conditions," president of France's mountain guide union Dorian Labaeye said.
"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 channel.
President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter said he was thinking of the families.
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
Two brothers, both experienced climbers, were killed in 2014 in an avalanche on the same glacier.
The Alps are a major vacation spot over France’s Easter long weekend. The France-Bleu radio station put the size of the avalanche at 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) long and 100 meters (328 feet) wide.
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