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 British skier has died following a “very large” avalanche in the French Alps. The 55-year-old man was found in the snow in an off-piste sector in a valley in Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc. The avalanche, which happened on Tuesday afternoon, is estimated to have been 1km long and 400m wide.

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

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

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.

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 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.