8 Mar 2017

All skiers reported safe after avalanche in France

12:59 am on 8 March 2017

No one has been hurt in an avalanche that struck the French ski resort of Tignes, reports say.

Early reports quoted police as saying the avalanche buried several skiers.

Bad weather had hampered the rescue operation but it has now concluded without finding any casualties, according to the latest reports.

The avalanche risk at Tignes was said to be four on a scale of five, and part of the resort had been closed to skiers.

The resort said on Twitter that while there had been an avalanche there was "no drama", in reply to a supportive tweet sent by France's sports minister Thierry Braillard.

A journalist at the scene said it had been snowing heavily in Tignes for days and that mountain guides had been setting off preventative avalanches to try to reduce the threat.

Last month four snowboarders were killed when an avalanche hit an off-piste area of the same resort.

Tignes said that it appeared to have been set off by a group of skiers higher up.

-BBC

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