Deadly avalanche in the Alps kills three

TWO French teenagers aged 14 and 16 on a school trip and a Ukrainian tourist have been killed in an avalanche at a ski resort in the French Alps on January 13, whilst three others, two pupils and a teacher, were seriously injured and have been taken to hospital in Grenoble. 

The two injured pupils are reported to have had heart attacks whilst the teacher was found unconscious after the avalanche struck the group of around 19 secondary school pupils and their teacher.

All other students from the group had been accounted for and were safe according to the French interior ministry.

More than 60 rescuers with dogs assisted by four helicopters went to the scene on a closed piste in the Les Deux Alpes area according to local reports and French President Francois Hollande offered “sincere condolences” to the victims’ families and said “the solidarity of the whole nation” was with them.