[Twendypreency]

11:31am UK, Thursday 12 July 2012 | Sky News

Five Britons are missing after an avalanche in the French Alps' Mont Blanc massif
that killed nine people and injured eight.



At least nine people have been killed and five Britons are among those missing after an avalanche in
the Alps' Mont Blanc massif, French mountain police have said.

Emergency services were dispatched to the scene after one of nine people injured sounded the alert from
Mont Maudit, the massif's third-highest peak.

Two roped groups of climbers were hit by the avalanche, which local authorities said was "the most deadly
of recent years".

The Mayor's spokesman in Chamonix said those killed in the disaster were in a group of very experienced
climbers who were attempting to scale Mont Blanc - Europe's highest peak - on one of the more difficult
routes, via Mont Maudit and Mont du Tacul.

He said they would have set off from Refuge des Cosmiques at about 3am local time (2am UK time) and
the accident is thought to have happened between 5.30am and 6am (4.30am and 5am UK time).

The spokesman added that a large chunk of ice broke away from the mountainside, causing an avalanche
of ice and rocks. The survivors were rescued by helicopter mountain rescue.