There are already five people dead after a gigantic avalanche that occurred this Sunday on the Armancette glacier in the French Alps. Two mountain guides, aged 39 and 49, and three clients died after being run over by snow and rocks, the France Info radio station specified. of this sport. At least one other person is missing.
The avalanche occurred for unknown reasons in a mountain area near the Contamines-Montjoie ski resort. The place is located about 30 kilometers southwest of Chamonix, a well-known and frequented French resort. Some eight people would have been unharmed.
Rescue teams were working intensively last night in the area to try to locate other potential victims. The operation, led by the Mountain Unit of the National Gendarmerie (PGHM) of Chamonix, is especially complicated as there is fear that other small avalanches will occur on the same slopes of the glacier.
«On the Armancette glacier in the Alps, an avalanche has caused casualties. We think of them and also of their families. To find the people still stuck in the snow, our rescue forces are mobilized. We have them in our thoughts too,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter immediately after being informed of the accident.
The Haute-Savoie gendarmerie made a public appeal to witnesses to try to move forward with the investigations as quickly as possible. Likewise, they have asked people who had passed through two nearby mountain refuges between the afternoon and night to contact the authorities to confirm that they are safe and sound.
The accident took place in the middle of the Easter holidays in an area frequented by tourists from all over the world who go skiing in the Alps. At the moment, the nationality of the four fatalities is unknown. Two helicopters and more than 20 rescuers have participated in the rescue operations.
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