Move FM Global News

PARIS, France: French authorities have said that rescuers found a sixth body, after an avalanche struck southwest of Mont Blanc in the French Alps on April 9.

The rescue team’s members have now called off their search, they added.

The avalanche occurred on the Armancette glacier near the village and ski resort of Les Contamines-Montjoie.

Emmanuel Coquand, spokesperson for the authorities in the Haute-Savoie region, said the rescue team ended their search because they know of no other missing persons.

However, he did not comment on the identity of the six victim.

Meanwhile, local media said two of the dead were mountain guides, while the other four were all French clients, including a young woman and man in their 20s and a couple in their 40s.

The six had been skiing off-piste, or out of area, when the avalanche struck, Coquand said, adding that the avalanche covered a wide area of half a mile by 550 yards at an altitude of 11,500 feet.

The cause of the avalanche is being investigated, but there was no weather warning before the incident, Coquand added.