12-year-old boy dies after cliff fall in French Alps
A 12-year-old boy died after falling off a cliff near the ski resort of Avoriaz in the French Alps. With his his 10-year-old brother, he strayed off-piste for an unknown reason on Saturday.
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The pair appear to have got lost, removed their skis and entered a forest, before falling off a 150m cliff.
The two were found by rescuers overnight.
The elder boy died but his younger brother survived.
Elsewhere, three cross-country skiers were killed and four others were injured in three separate avalanches in the Swiss Alps over the weekend.
Several people were rescued.
On Sunday 18 February a father, 43, and his 11-year-old daughter died when an avalanche swept them away while they were skiing in the French Alps.
Rescue officials said the pair, from the Paris region, had been skiing on a slope in the Pisaillas glacier area of the Val d'Isère, which was closed because of the avalanche risk.
They were found in a hollow surrounded by cliffs at an altitude of around 2,930 metres in the early afternoon.
The exact circumstances of the accident were not yet known and prosecutors in nearby Albertville have opened an investigation.
A cross-country skier was also killed in the region on Sunday 18 February in an off-piste area near the Giettaz-en-Aravis ski resort.
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