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.

In Siviez in the Swiss canton of Valais, only about 20 mountain enthusiasts took the avalanche dog handler training course last week. There are around 50 such handlers in Valais today – some 30% fewer than 20 years ago.

A British man has died after being swept away by an avalanche in an off-piste sector in the Chamonix valley, at the foot of Mont Blanc.

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

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.