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.

A 27-year-old ski tourer has died in the hospital in Sion, in southwestern Switzerland, after being caught in an <a target=_blank href=

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.

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

Two separate avalanches killed five skiers across the French Alps on Wednesday, according to several news reports. Four of the deceased — all Norwegians — were caught in an avalanche at Val-Cenis. Three of them were pronounced dead at the scene,

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.

It was an avalanche of great size which was triggered outside the ski area,' says Val-Cenis mayor - Anadolu Ajansı