An avalanche occurred in the mountainous area near Chamonix, a French Alps resort, at around 5 a.m. on the 12th, resulting in the deaths of at least nine foreign hikers and injuries to eleven others, marking the most severe casualty incident since 2008. Rescue teams are still searching for four other missing individuals.
Officials stated that the avalanche took place on Mont Maudit, at an altitude of 4,465 meters, where approximately 38 hikers were attempting to ascend Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe at 4,807 meters, via this route.
Mont Maudit features treacherous terrain and is considered one of the two main climbing routes to Mont Blanc, being the more challenging of the two. The mountain’s name in French literally means “Cursed Mountain.”
Fournier, the mayor of Chamonix, said that the weather conditions were good in the early hours of the 12th, yet an avalanche tragedy unexpectedly occurred. According to preliminary investigations, the cause of the avalanche may have been a hiker accidentally stepping on a layer of ice.
At least nine deaths have been confirmed so far, including two Spaniards, three Germans, and one Swiss national, while the nationalities of the other three remain unknown.