French Alps: Five dead and one missing after avalanche on Easter Sunday

Local tour guides among the dead in tragedy near Mont Blanc

At least five people have died and one person remains missing after a devastating avalanche southwest of Mont Blanc in the French Alps.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the avalanche occurred in the middle of the day on the Armancette glacier on Easter Sunday.

Two of the victims were local tour guides, according to the deputy mayor Élisabeth Mollard.

The avalanche occurred on the Armanchette glacier on Easter Sunday (Reuters)

Emmanuel Coquand, spokesperson for the local authorities of Haute-Savoie, said the avalanche was extensive, covering an area of 1km by 500 metres at an altitude of 3,500 metres.

One eyewitness told France Television that the avalanche happened before her eyes while she was hiking in front of the Armancette glacier.

She said: “I had put the phone in front of me but then I was looking with my eyes more than in the lens and suddenly there was a huge, huge, huge cloud that came down to the bottom, it split into two.”

The glacier lies near the village and ski resort of Les Contamines-Montjoie.

Two of the victims of Sunday’s avalanche were local tour guides (Reuters)

Avalanches cause dozens of deaths each year in the alps. Earlier in the ski season, authorities urged caution due to a high risk of avalanches across the mountain range.

A total of 130 people were killed in avalanches over the 2020/2021 season, up from the 53 who died in 2019/200. The deaths mainly happened in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Norway.

Last month, a British teenager died after being hit by an avalanche while on a ski tour in Switzerland.

The 18-year-old was killed on Tuesday 21 March after an avalanche struck in Meiringen resort, in the canton of Bern at around 4.25pm. The teenager was originally from England but had been living in Bern.