Two Britons were among three skiers killed in an avalanche in the French Alps.
The pair were part of a five-person group, including an instructor, on off-piste skiing in Val d’Isere in the southeast. France. A French national also died while skiing alone.
Albertville prosecutor Benoit Bachelet said the ski instructor, who escaped injury, tested negative after taking blood and drug tests. Another British man sustained minor injuries, he said.
A homicide investigation was opened by the Albertville Public Prosecutor’s Office and handled by the CRS Alps Mountain Rescue Police.
France’s National Meteorological Service issued a red alert on Thursday for the risk of snowfall in the region.
In the Italian Alps, avalanches recently claimed 11 lives over a seven-day period as a result of exceptionally unstable snow conditions.
Among the dead was a 70-year-old hiker who died last Sunday in the Veneto region of the country where Milano Cortina is hosting the Winter Olympics.
Italy’s rescue service said there was a risk of avalanches across much of the Alpine range from west to east.
As fresh snow accumulates on top of old and unstable layers, even the movement of a single skier can trigger an avalanche, the rescue service said in a statement to Reuters.
