Avalanche kills at least 9 in French Alps
Source: Agencies |
July 13, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
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A slab of ice broke off yesterday high in the French Alps, sparking an avalanche that swept nine Europeans to their deaths as they tried to climb Mont Blanc, authorities said. Eleven other climbers were hospitalized and at least four are still missing.
Two climbers in the group were rescued and emergency crews using dogs and helicopters scoured the churned-up snow to search for the missing. The avalanche came after unusually wet weather. Climbers were sent hurtling down steep slopes at the peak of the summer season.
The dead were from Britain, Germany, Spain and Switzerland, according to the gendarme service in the French mountain town of Chamonix.
A group of 28 climbers from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Serbia were believed to be in the expedition caught in the early morning avalanche some 4,000 meters high on the north face of Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range.
Some climbers managed to turn back in time, regional authorities in Haute-Savoie said.
The gendarme service said they were alerted to the avalanche around 5:25am yesterday. A block of ice that was 40-centimeters thick broke off and slid down the slope, creating a 2-meter-thick, 50-meter-long mass of snow.
Several dozen gendarmes and other rescuers worked to pull the dead and injured from the mountain and search for the missing but the risk of a new avalanche complicated the search.
The 11 injured were hospitalized in nearby Sallanches, the gendarme service said.
Two climbers in the group were rescued and emergency crews using dogs and helicopters scoured the churned-up snow to search for the missing. The avalanche came after unusually wet weather. Climbers were sent hurtling down steep slopes at the peak of the summer season.
The dead were from Britain, Germany, Spain and Switzerland, according to the gendarme service in the French mountain town of Chamonix.
A group of 28 climbers from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Serbia were believed to be in the expedition caught in the early morning avalanche some 4,000 meters high on the north face of Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range.
Some climbers managed to turn back in time, regional authorities in Haute-Savoie said.
The gendarme service said they were alerted to the avalanche around 5:25am yesterday. A block of ice that was 40-centimeters thick broke off and slid down the slope, creating a 2-meter-thick, 50-meter-long mass of snow.
Several dozen gendarmes and other rescuers worked to pull the dead and injured from the mountain and search for the missing but the risk of a new avalanche complicated the search.
The 11 injured were hospitalized in nearby Sallanches, the gendarme service said.
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