PARIS (AP) 鈥 An avalanche in an off-piste area of a French ski resort swept two British skiers to their deaths, the British Foreign Office said in a statement Friday.
The pair are reportedly a 54-year-old mother and her 22-year-old son, according to the statement.
Another skier, reportedly an instructor, has been left injured and a hiker was killed in a separate area after the avalanche on Mont Blanc.
鈥淲e are supporting the family of two British people who died in France and are in contact with the local authorities,鈥 according to the British Foreign Office.
The avalanche on Thursday swept through an off-piste area of the Saint-Gervais-les-Bains ski resort at an altitude of 2,300 meters (7,545 feet), the administration for the Haute-Savoie region said in a statement.
Dozens of mountain rescuers set out to search for skiers trapped, finding a man and a woman dead and one person injured, and rescuing five others, the administration said. An investigation was opened into the cause of the avalanche.
Saint-Gervais Mayor Jean-Marc Peillex said the weather conditions were too unstable for such risky outings.
鈥淚t rained, it snowed, it was warm. There are enough marked paths to ski on,鈥欌 he told BFM television. 鈥樷橧t鈥檚 terrible what happened. A family is decimated, and we are very sad in Saint-Gervais.鈥欌
To the north, a 31-year-old hiker was found dead after falling on the slope of the Ecrins mountain range. The hiker had veered away from hiking paths to look at mountain goats with a friend, local broadcaster France-Bleu cited rescuers as saying.
