Five skiers were killed in two separate avalanches in the French Alps on Wednesday, local officials have confirmed. One torrent of snow came in Val-Cenis, in the south-eastern Savoie region, killing four Norwegian skiers, while a Swiss skier died further north in the Haute-Savoie region, near Chamonix.

The victim, aged 55, died after being swept away by an avalanche in an off-piste sector in the Chamonix valley, at the foot of Mont Blanc, on Tuesday afternoon

An avalanche in the French Alps on Wednesday killed four Norwegian skiers swept away by the off-piste torrent of snow and ice, officials in the southeastern Savoie region told AFP.

The Brazilian-Portuguese national was found dead by mountain rescuers.

A British skier has died after being submerged by a ‘very large’ avalanche at a ski resort near Mont Blanc on Tuesday (January 28). The 55-year old was caught in the one-kilometre long and 400-metre wide avalanche whilst skiing in the Grands Montets ski area in the Herse sector.

Four Norwegian skiers died on Wednesday, January 29, in an avalanche in the French Alps, according to the authorities of the Haute Savoie region.

A British skier has been killed in a “very large” avalanche in the French Alps. The unnamed 55-year-old man died after being swept away in an off-piste section of the Chamonix valley, at the base of Mont Blanc, on Tuesday afternoon.

Four Norwegians and a Swiss woman were reportedly killed in avalanches while skiing off-piste in the French Alps on Wednesday. The Norwegians were part of a group of seven that was swept away by an avalanche in Val-Cenis in the southeastern Savoie region near the Italian border.

The horrific discovery took place near a resort in the French Alps, where a 'very large' avalanche had caught the British skier by surprise in the Chamonix Valley

A 55-year-old British man died after an avalanche descended on the Chamonix valley at the foot of the French side of the Mont Blanc. The avalanche occurred in an off-piste section of the valley on Tuesday afternoon at Les Grand Montets resort in Argentiere - a ski area in Chamonix.