Rescuers hunt for 10 missing after avalanche in French Alps

Helicopters, dozens of rescuers and dogs hunted Sunday for 10 climbers – among them five Austrians and three Swiss – missing after an avalanche near Mont Blanc in the French Alps, police said.

France's interior minister was on her way to the mountains to visit eight survivors – three Italians and five French – who were pulled from the snow and for a briefing on the search for other victims, her office said.

The climbers were on the 4,250-metre high Mont-Blanc du Tacul when they were hit by a massive wall of snow around 3.00am (0100 GMT). A mountain guide raised the alarm around 3.15am.

Climbers of high mountains such as Mont-Blanc du Tacul, a site popular with hikers in the Mont Blanc range spanning France's border with Italy, often begin their ascent hours before dawn.

The avalanche, 200 metres long and 50 metres wide, struck at an altitude of 3,600 metres during what police described as "excellent" weather conditions around Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps.

It appeared to have been caused by a block of glacier ice that broke free and rolled down the mountain, a regular event in both winter and summer in these mountains, according to locals.

"It's probable, according to statements made to us, that groups of climbers roped together were on the path up the mountain as well as in the place where the block of ice tumbled down," Eric Fournier, the mayor of nearby Chamonix, told AFP.

Swiss and Austrian authorities confirmed earlier reports that three and five of their nationals respectively were among the missing. The nationality of the other two people missing was not immediately known.

Some of the eight rescued – who were aged between 26 and 37 – had to be dug out of deep snow, while others had managed to free themselves. All eight were slighly injured.

The rescue team sent in to search for survivors included 14 mountain guides, firefighters, and mountain police officers.

An Italian rescue helicopter was also sent in to back up the two French choppers involved in the hunt.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie's office said she would arrive later Sunday in the Alps to visit the injured in hospital and to meet with rescue teams in Chamonix.

Around 100 people have died in this year's summer season in accidents in the French Alps, most of them in the Mont Blanc range.

 

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