A criminal inquiry was opened in France on Friday following the deaths of a British woman and her son in an off-piste avalanche apparently triggered by other skiers.
The tragedy happened on Wednesday, as the pair – aged 54 and 22 – disappeared under a 400m-long torrent of ice and snow on the slopes of Mont Joly, part of the Mont Blanc mountain range in the Haute-Savoie department.
An investigating source said on Friday: "They were surprised by an avalanche around Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, while off-piste.
"They were in a group of eight people, made up of a ski instructor and his students, when they were hit at a height of around 2300 meters."
Survivors included the women’s British husband who – like the victims – has not yet been publicly named.
Only the instructor was wearing an ‘avalanche victim detector’, according to the source, who said: "Three out of the eight skiers were buried in the snow, and a search party was mobilised very quickly, after an emergency alarm.
"The instructor was detected and pulled out, but the man and woman who were buried perished, following a far more complex and long search.’
The source added: "The initial theory is that another party of skiers higher up triggered the avalanche."
Public prosecutors at Bonneville confirmed that a manslaughter investigation had been launched, with judicial police investigating on site.
There was another Alpine fatality on the same day when a man aged 31 fell 500m from a rocky ridge in Chantepérier, in the Ecrins Massif.
Local broadcaster France-Bleu said rescuers explained the hiker had stepped away from hiking paths to look at mountain goats.
Dozens of mountain rescuers set out to search for the trapped skiiers, reported French media, finding a man and woman dead and a third person injured. Five others were rescued.
Saint-Gervais Mayor Jean-Marc Peillex said the weather made conditions in the off-piste area dangerous.
"It rained, it snowed, it was warm. There are enough marked paths to ski on," he told BFM television. "It's terrible what happened. A family is decimated, and we are very sad in Saint-Gervais."
A spokesperson for the Haute-Savoie regional government confirmed that rescue teams were called to the avalanche.
"The final report shows two victims dead, one lightly injured and five other people unhurt," said the spokesperson.
"Yves Le Breton, prefect of Haute-Savoie would like to send his sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims and his thoughts to those involved in this avalanche. He also thanks all the personnel who made it possible to carry out the search operations."
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed it was supporting the family of two Britons who died.
