Tragically, another avalanche in the French Alps on Wednesday struck a group of 10 high-school students taking part in a ski trip, killing two of them and injuring at least five.
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The track used by a group of students was blocked, said prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat in Grenoble.
The 47-year-old man remains in hospital in Grenoble, where three teenagers are also being treated after suffering heart attacks at the nearby Deux Alpes ski resort.
Officials found the body of a 16-year-old girl on the slope, while a 14-year-old boy died after being transferred to a hospital.
A third deceased is understood to be a Ukranian national.
“A person of Romanian nationality presented himself to the gendarmerie to explain that a group of 15 people was skiing above the school students when they heard a noise like an explosion, and that the avalanche started”, said Coquillat, who added that charges against the group are not being considered as off-piste skiing is not a crime in France.
The ski slope was closed by a large net which had a clear sign in different languages, but the group intentionally stepped over it to get to the closed slope, Mr Coquillat said.
Investigators in the French Alps are examining why a teacher apparently took schoolchildren on to a closed ski run shortly before a deadly avalanche, the BBC has reported. Primarily this was because there was not enough snow, then later due to a high avalanche risk. But heavy snowfall in recent days has blanketed the mountains, prompting authorities to warn of a high risk of avalanches across the French Alps. “It is in full knowledge that the group moved into this place and this closed slope”, although he admitted that probably “several hundred” others had done so on Wednesday. Skiing beyond the slope was not punishable and not prohibited.
Bellecombes at Les Deux Alpes.
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Outside the students’ school in Lyon, some 110km from the site of the disaster, dozens of candles were lit alongside notes such as: “Thoughts with the students and pupils” and “Thoughts with the families, stay strong”.
