French Alps avalanche is the deadliest since 2008

Nine climbers died in the French Alps avalanche near Mont Blanc: three Britons, three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swiss. Four climbers are still missing: two Britons and two Germans. Rescue efforts will begin again on Friday, weather permitting.

|
(AP Photo)
Rescue efforts have been halted until Friday to the avalanche site in Chamonix, French Alps. An avalanche in the French Alps swept nine European climbers to their deaths on a slope leading to Mont Blanc. The expedition caught in the avalanche that was about 4,000 meters (13,1000 feet) high on the north face of Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range.

Nine climbers were killed in an avalanche near Chamonix in the French Alps on Thursday when a wall of snow swept them away as they tried to scale one of Europe's tallest peaks, authorities said.

Rescue efforts to find four other climbers still missing were called off until Friday and French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said an investigation would be launched to establish what had happened and how similar avalanches could be avoided.

The dead included three Britons, three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swiss, authorities said. The missing climbers are two Britons and two Germans. Nine people were injured.

RECOMMENDED: Tales of everyday heroes

A preliminary investigation suggested a climber may have stepped on an icy patch, unwittingly triggering the giant slide. Many of the climbers were roped together for safety reasons, and some of the injured sustained broken bones.

"The conditions are still perilous. At this stage, the mountain is not safe," Valls told reporters, adding that he had flown over the area and saw giant blocks of ice beneath him.

"Unfortunately, it's always in July and August that we get such events, but we will investigate and see if there is anything we can do."

Deadliest Since 2008

The most deadly avalanche in the Alps since 2008 swept down a popular climbing route in the Mont Blanc range near the border with Switzerland at about 0300 GMT. The scene of the tragedy - "le Mont Maudit" which translates as "Cursed Peak" - is one of two popular access routes to the famous Mont Blanc peak.

About 38 climbers were on the mountain - at an elevation of 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) - when the avalanche hit without warning in fine weather conditions, the head of the Haute-Savoie rescue squad, Bertrand Francois, told a news conference.

That included 28 climbers in two separate climbing teams, as well as solitary climbers, he said, adding that some of the climbers had managed to turn and flee.

Authorities had not expected any avalanches, as conditions were good on Thursday morning, said Jean-Louis Verdier, mayor of the resort town of Chamonix.

"We had no more reason than usual to be alarmed," Verdier told Reuters TV. "It's a steep mountain face. There are big plates of snow we know of where an avalanche can easily occur. But this morning we had no reason to expect an avalanche of this size and such a tragedy."

One of the climbers who managed to escape alerted the authorities.

Rescue workers in helicopters and on foot, as well as dog teams, had searched for the missing, but their efforts were hampered by the risk of a fresh avalanche as well as by high winds.

The search was called off on Thursday evening and will resume on Friday if the weather is good enough, French TV reported, quoting police.
Victims' families were being received at a chapel of rest set up at the hospital in Chamonix.
Eight Swiss, German and Austrian climbers perished in a similar avalanche nearby in 2008.

(Additional reporting by Catherine Lagrange; Writing by Alexandria Sage and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Diana Abdallah)

RECOMMENDED: Tales of everyday heroes

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to French Alps avalanche is the deadliest since 2008
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0712/French-Alps-avalanche-is-the-deadliest-since-2008
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe