Deadly Alpine avalanche claims six lives

A group of French skiers have died in a avalanche in the French Alps. Their bodies were discovered early on Sunday in Queyras mountain range close to the Italian border.

The six experienced mountaineers were aged between 50 and 70.

The tragedy comes after a British man and a French woman were killed in the Alps on Friday.

The incident brings the total number of dead so far this season to at least 17. About 30 people are killed in avalanches and other skiing accidents in the Alps every year, according to the French national association for the study of snow and avalanches (Anena).

Rescuers working in treacherous conditions overnight found three bodies buried in snow on the Vallon de Bachas after midnight on Saturday. Three more bodies were found nearby on Sunday morning. An investigation into the incident is under way amid suspicions that the group may have detached a wind slab on a slope.

Five of the victims were from the Hautes Alpes region, with the sixth from Var in southern France. 

Authorities have warned of the risk of avalanches following heavy snow in recent days. There was a three-out-of-five risk of an avalanche in the Queyras range over the weekend.

Saturday’s avalanche in the French Alps was one of the deadliest involving skiers since January 2006, when five off-piste skiers were buried by snow. According to Anena, 17 people were killed by avalanches across all the French mountain ranges in the 2014 season, 21 in 2013, and 22 in 2012.