Four Norwegians and a Swiss woman were reportedly killed in avalanches while skiing off-piste in the French Alps on Wednesday.
The Norwegians were part of a group of seven that was swept away by an avalanche in Val-Cenis in the southeastern Savoie region near the Italian border.
Three of the skiers died on the spot while a woman was injured. She was airlifted to the Grenoble hospital where she later died. She had reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and hypothermia.
The other three people in the group escaped unhurt. They were carrying avalanche beacons that helped a rescue team spot them.
Jacques Arnoux, the mayor of Val-Cenis, told AFP the Norwegians were hit by “an extremely big avalanche that was triggered outside the ski area”.
In a separate incident, a Swiss woman, 30, died in an avalanche near Chamonix.
She had been skiing off-piste on the north face of the Aiguillette des Posettes in the Mont Blanc massif with her brother and father.
Her brother was injured but the father escaped unhurt.
French authorities had issued avalanche warnings across several Alpine regions, urging caution owing to unstable snow conditions.
“On account of the instability of the snow, skiers and hikers must follow instructions given by resorts and the emergency services,” Haute-Savoie authorities said.
An avalanche the previous day in Les Grands Montets near Chamonix had killed a 55-year-old skier. The man, initially believed to be British, was skiing off-piste in an area which authorities said had been closed to the public over safety concerns.
Ski patrol found the victim at 4.35pm local time on Tuesday while inspecting a mile-long avalanche before closing the slopes to the public. They noticed an exposed elbow and called in medics by helicopter, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim was reported to be British initially, but the public prosecutor and the Chamonix High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon told the BBC on Wednesday this was incorrect. He was a dual national of Brazil and Portugal, they said.
Nearly 100 people are caught in avalanches in France every year and an average of 30 are killed.
