Avalanche Incident
Avalanche IncidentFrench police say hikers triggered fatal avalanche
Everyone on outing accounted for
CNN, AP, Reuters - January 24, 1998
GAP, France (CNN) -- The weight of students show-shoeing through the Alps despite avalanche warnings caused the snowslide Friday that killed nine students and two adult guides, police said Saturday during their probe into the worst disaster of its kind to hit the French Alps since 1970.
Mountain police Lt. Laurent Jaunatre said it was "now certain" that it was "the group itself which set off the slide (of snow) on its path."
"It's clear they had no business there," Jaunatre said, correcting previous reports suggesting that skiers above the group might have touched off the avalanche. Police were trying to determine if any laws had been violated.
Grieving parents of the students who died or were injured arrived Saturday in the French Alps to recover their children and find out how the tragedy happened.
The group of 34 students from a private school near Paris and their guides had been hiking on snowshoes off marked trails at 2,300 meters (7,590 feet) near the southeastern ski resort of Les Orres when the avalanche was set off.
Nine people injured in the avalanche remained hospitalized Saturday, including two in serious condition. Another 12 injured had been treated and released.
Rescue workers who resumed a search at the site Saturday to ensure that no one else had been caught in the avalanche said everyone in the student party from Montigny-le-Bretonneux in the greater Paris area near Versailles had been accounted for.
Olivier Hindermayer, head of the National Union of Open Air Sports Centers, said the school group had been under the supervision of eight adults, including four who were mountaineering experts.
Parents and local officials questioned why the teens, ages 13 to 15, had been taken on the outing after a weeklong snow class at Chateauroux-les-Alpes.
Weather forecasters had warned of an avalanche risk rated at 4 on a scale of 5, after more than 90 centimeters (3 feet) of snow had fallen since Sunday.
"I told them they shouldn't go. There are warning signs everywhere," said Michel Roussel, manager of the cabin where the group had been staying.
"Many of the victims were stuck in trees ... The kids who survived were screaming in panic. Some were wearing nothing more than a T-shirt because they had just climbed the slope and had not yet cooled down and put their jackets on," said a military police dog handler who was among the 150 professionals and volunteers who took part in the swift rescue mission.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin traveled to the area to talk to survivors, and President Jacques Chirac also expressed sorrow over the disaster.
France Probes School Trip After 11 Die
Reuters - Saturday January 24 12:10 PM EST
By Herve Piochet
GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - The French government said Saturday it would investigate how nine children and two adults walking with snow shoes high in the Alps were killed by an avalanche.
The disaster was the worst of its kind in France for nearly 30 years.
The announcement of the inquiry came in a statement from Youth and Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet.
The victims came from the St Francis of Assisi school in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, south of Paris.
Experts in grief therapy accompanied about 50 shocked parents on a grim round of hospitals in France's Alpine southeast Saturday to visit survivors of the trek and mourn the dead.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, with two ministers, also travelled to the area.
"This catastrophe, which has plunged the St Francis of Assisi school into mourning, has saddened the whole nation," Jospin's office said in a statement.
President Jacques Chirac, on a state visit to India, also expressed sorrow over the disaster.
Nine people on the trek remained in hospital Saturday morning including two who were in a serious condition.
Another 12 injured were treated and released while eight children on the school trip and initially feared missing were found to have not gone on the trek.
Olivier Hindermayer, head of the National Union of Open Air Sports Centres (UCPA), said the school group had been under the supervision of eight adults including four who were mountaineering experts.
But parents and local officials questioned why the children, aged between 13 and 15, had been taken to a remote mountainous area where avalanche warnings had been in effect following heavy snowfalls.
"I don't understand why they went into a zone with such a steep incline. A tragedy like this could have been avoided," said Jean-Pierre Garcin, who manages the area's trails.
"We knew we had to be careful, that it was dangerous, but we were not really afraid," a young survivor, who was not identified, told Radio Alpes.
Police also opened an investigation to determine whether there had been any violations of the law.
Officials said the trekkers were hit by a fast-moving, 300-metre (1,000-foot) long wall of snow as they walked in wooded mountains near the ski resort of Les Orres, close to the Italian border.
More than 100 volunteers and gendarmes with sniffer dogs had combed the area into the night, prodding through the deep snow with long poles to look for the missing.
Organizers of the school trip said the group included 32 children with two teachers, four trained mountaineers and two other adults.
None of the dead was named.
Officials said they believed the avalanche had been triggered by the group of young trekkers themselves. Authorities had earlier speculated that it might have been caused by a group of off-piste skiers further up the mountainside.
Authorities had issued repeated avalanche warnings this week throughout the French Alps after recent heavy snowfalls and high winds had left the area unstable.
The two deadliest avalanches in recent French history took place in 1970.
In February of that year, 39 people died and another 37 were injured when an avalanche buried a holiday chalet in the Alpine town of Val D'Isere.
Two months later, 74 people died including 56 children when a blanket of snow buried a sanatorium at the Plateau d'Assy.
Avalanche Sweeps French Children to Death
Reuters - Friday January 23 6:04 PM EST
By Herve Piochet
GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - At least 10 people died and two were missing Friday after a huge avalanche swept away a group of school children and their guides trekking in the French Alps, local officials said.
A further 20 people were injured, six seriously, in France's worst avalanche disaster in years.
Police said the trekkers were hit by a fast-moving, 1,000-foot wall of snow as they walked in wooded mountains near the ski resort of Les Orres, close to the Italian border.
More than 100 volunteers and paramilitary police with sniffer dogs combed the area, prodding through the deep snow with long poles to look for the missing people.
The rescue operation was hindered by the terrain, with a number of trees, uprooted by the force of the avalanche, lying buried beneath the snow.
Organizers of the school trip said the group included 32 children aged between 13 and 15 from the town of Montigny-le-Bretonneux, near Paris. The teen-agers had been accompanied by two teachers, four trained mountaineers and two other adults.
Police said earlier that 12 bodies had been found and five people were missing. They later revised the fatalities down to 11 with two missing, but local authorities said that only 10 people were known to have died, adding that two people were unaccounted for.
None of the dead were named.
The rescue operation was suspended overnight and police said it was unlikely that the missing pair could have survived the disaster.
An official at the local administration office said he believed the snow slide had been triggered by a group of people skiing further up the mountain outside authorized runs.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, accompanied by two ministers, traveled to the area to meet the survivors.
"This catastrophe, which has plunged the St. Francis of Assisi school in Montigny-le-Bretonneux into mourning, has saddened the whole nation," Jospin's office said in a statement.
Authorities had issued repeated avalanche warnings this week throughout the French Alps after recent heavy snowfalls and high winds had left the area unstable.
Locals said the school group, led by experienced trekkers, had been walking along an authorized route at an altitude of around 8,000 feet when the avalanche struck.
But some people questioned the wisdom of the trip.
"I don't understand why professional guides would have taken them into that area," said Michel Roussel, who runs a nearby mountain retreat where the children had spent the night.
Twelve helicopters ferried survivors to hospitals in the nearby towns of Embrun and Gap. A temporary morgue was set up in Embrun and authorities opened free phone lines for families to find out more information.
Tearful students, relatives and staff gathered at the St. Francis of Assisi school to await news.
11 dead, 2 missing in French avalanche
Most were teens on school holiday
CNN/Reuters - January 23, 1998
GAP, France (CNN) -- Eleven people were killed and two are missing and feared dead after a massive wall of snow crashed down Friday on a group of French teens on a winter hike through the Alps.
According to police, the dead included nine students from a school in Montigny-le-Bretonneaux, near Paris. Two of six adults accompanying the students also died, and seven children and two adults were injured, police said.
Other local officials put the death toll at 10. Ten other children were being kept in area hospitals but were not hurt.
After more than seven hours of searching, authorities suspended their efforts late Friday night and planned to resume looking for the two missing hikers Saturday. But it was considered unlikely that they could have survived.
At the time of the disaster, members of the group, which included four experienced mountaineers as guides, were snow-shoeing on trails near the ski resort of Les Orres, in southern France close to the Italian border.
Police said the hikers were hit by a fast-moving, 1,000-foot wall of snow, apparently triggered by people skiing further up the mountain outside of authorized runs.
As many as 150 rescue workers rushed to the site in an attempt to rescue the hikers, with the help of helicopters and search dogs. They used long poles and chain saws to search the mountain.
Authorities had issued repeated avalanche warnings this week in the French Alps because of recent heavy snowfall.
"One cannot criticize these people in such a tragic moment, but personally, I wouldn't have gone trekking today in these conditions," said Gerard Bouchet, leader of one of the rescue teams.
Rescue workers carried survivors, bundled in blankets and placed on stretchers, to waiting helicopters, which then flew them to hospitals in the nearby towns of Embrun and Gap.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin traveled to the area late Friday to meet the survivors.
"This catastrophe, which has plunged the St. Francis of Assisi school in Montigny-le-Bretonneux into mourning, has saddened the whole nation," said a statement released by Jospin's office.
President Jacques Chirac expressed his "profound sadness" over one of the worst avalanche disasters in France in recent years.
At least 6 killed in French avalanche
Teen-aged trekkers swept away in southern French Alps
REUTER
GRENOBLE, France - At least six people died and up to 13 were missing Friday after an avalanche swept away a group of teen-agers and their guides trekking with snowshoes near the ski resort of Les Orres in the southern French Alps, officials said. A local government spokesman said rescuers pulled out 22 people alive. At least two were seriously hurt, while most of the others appeared to have suffered slight injuries and bruises.
THERE WERE CONFUSING reports about the number of people missing, but the spokesman said up to 13 could still be trapped under the snow slide, their chances of surviving dwindling rapidly. More than 100 rescuers and paramilitary police with dogs rushed to the scene after the alarm was raised by radio and probed the snow slide. Twelve helicopters ferried survivors to hospitals in the nearby towns of Embrun and Gap. The group was believed to have comprised 32 teen-agers from the town of Montigny-le-Bretonneux near Paris on a school vacation, and nine adults, four of them trained mountaineers.
Officials said the party, on a snowshoe excursion along a path, was swept away by the avalanche apparently triggered by another group skiing above them outside authorized runs. Authorities had issued avalanche warnings and urged skiers to stick to authorized runs throughout the French Alps after heavy snowfalls over the past few days.
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