Three Britons killed in French avalanche named
Three British climbers, killed in an avalanche in the French Alps, are named by the Foreign Office.
John Taylor and Steve Barber, both from York, were among nine people killed on Mont Maudit near Chamonix on Thursday. Their families have been told.
A third Briton killed had already been named as experienced climber Robert Payne, who was working in the Alps as a guide.
Four climbers are still missing – two of them British, and two Germans. Efforts to locate them were called off late on Thursday.
The dead included three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swiss national as well as the three Britons.
In a statement Foreign Secretary William Hague sent his condolences to the friends and family of those involved, promising to give whatever consular assistance was required.
The group had been attempting to scale Mont Maudit – one of the highest peaks in Europe – near to Chamonix in the French alps.
Initial investigations suggest that a climber may have stepped on an icy patch, unwittingly triggering the giant slide. Many of the climbers were roped together for safety reasons, and some of the injured sustained broken bones.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who had seen giant blocks of ice below when flying across the area, said: “The conditions are still perilous. At this stage, the mountain is not safe”.
Mr Valls said an investigation would be launched to established what had happened and how to avoid similar tragedies.
This is the most deadly avalanche in the Alps since 2008. The avalanche hit without warning, in fine weather conditions, according to the head of the Haute-Savoie rescue team, Bertrand Francois. He said there were some 38 climbers on the mountain at the time, some climbing alone and the other 28 in two groups. Some had managed to turn and flee.
The mayor of Chamonix Jean-Louis Verdier said: “We had no more reason than usual to be alarmed,” adding “this morning we had no reason to expect an avalanche of this size and such a tragedy.”
‘Cursed mountain’
Mont Maudit is 4,465m high and part of the Mont Blanc range. It means “Cursed Mountain” in French.
One of the injured sounded the alert at about 0325 GMT after the avalanche on Mont Maudit, the massif’s third-highest peak.
Helicopters, dozens of rescue workers and two dog teams were dispatched to the scene. The climbers were at 4,000 metres altitude.
The pictures in this report were taken by Klemen Gricar, who works as a guide in Chamonix and came across some of the injured survivors shortly after the avalanche.