Four people were killed on Sunday April 9, and two others are missing in an avalanche that occurred in the Mont-Blanc massif, on the heights of Contamines-Montjoie (Haute-Savoie). This is one of the deadliest reports in France in recent years.
The impressive flow of snow descended around 11:30 a.m. on the Armancette glacier and surprised skiers. Rescuers found four dead bodies, one lightly injured and eight uninjured people, according to a press release from the Haute-Savoie prefecture. Two people remain missing, said the Bonneville prosecution, seized of an investigation to find the causes of death and worrying disappearance.
Among the four dead are two guides from the Saint-Gervais guide company (Haute-Savoie), announced the National Union of Mountain Guides, expressing its “emotion”.
Research suspended in the evening
The avalanche was 1,000 meters long and 100 meters wide, according to the prefecture. No avalanche warning had been issued by Météo-France, but the heat and the wind could have caused this event.
The search quickly mobilized about twenty people – gendarmes, firefighters, doctors from the SMUR. The civil security helicopter and that of the gendarmerie were also activated, as well as dogs trained in research in avalanches. According to the prefecture, the search was to be suspended in the evening, to resume Monday morning at 7 a.m. in the sector, where an avalanche phenomenon cannot be ruled out.
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, addressed his thoughts to the victims of the avalanche. “To find people still stuck in the snow, our rescue forces are mobilized. Our thoughts are with them, too,” added the head of state on Twitter, a few hours after the accident.
On this same glacier, two brothers, experienced mountaineers in their twenties, were carried away on December 25, 2014.
