Avalanche in France kills 4

International Desk: At least four skiers have died and another five are missing after an avalanche near the busy French Alpine resort of Tignes.

A group of eight tourists and a guide were swept away at 10.35am local time as they skied off-piste at an altitude of about 2,100 metres in the Savoie region of the central Alps, near the Italian border.

The 400 metre-wide avalanche, which struck a particularly high and steep peak in the Tovière area, was apparently set off by a group of skiers higher up the mountain, the ski station said.

Contrary to earlier reports that two people from the group of nine had been recovered alive, mountain rescue teams said five people were still buried in deep snow. Local rescuers said they were not hopeful of finding any survivors.

The avalanche was the worst to hit the Alps this season. It occurred during the school half-term holidays in France and several other European countries, including Britain, when ski resorts are typically full of children.

Several of the victims are believed to have been under 20, according to the emergency services, who said they were from a “sports association”. No details of names or nationalities have been given.

Local officials declared the avalanche risk throughout the region to be high, at a rating of three out of five.

The ski station said it was a “slab” avalanche, caused when dense wind-packed snow breaks off.

Before Monday, 13 accidents had been recorded in the Alps and Pyrenees so far this winter, claiming a total of three lives.

One of the worst avalanches in the past decade took place in the summer of 2012 in the Mont Blanc range. Nine climbers from Britain, Germany, Spain and Switzerland were killed as they tried to scale the north face of Mont Maudit.

Last month 29 people died in Italy after an avalanche buried a hotel in the central town of Rigopiano. The force of the impact has been calculated by police as being equivalent to that of 4,000 fully loaded trucks.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/DHAKA/Feb 13, 2017/Amirul