Local authorities said on Monday that two mountain guides were among the six fatalities from the avalanche that occurred in the French Alps on Sunday.
Following the resumption of searches on Monday morning, the prosecutor’s office in Bonneville, in the Haute-Savoie area, reported finding the body of a sixth victim.
One person was admitted to the hospital with minor injuries, according to the Haute-Savoie prefecture. Eight more persons were located safe. The victims’ identities are unknown at this time. The Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, in the Haute-Savoie region, some 30 kilometres (nearly 20 miles) southwest of Chamonix, was the site of the avalanche that occurred on Sunday.
Over the long Easter weekend in France, the Alps are a popular holiday destination. The avalanche was 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) long and 100 metres (328 feet) wide, according to the local France-Bleu radio station.
Considering the risk to be “limited,” the national weather organisation Meteo France did not issue a special avalanche warning for Sunday.
