LYON: A father, his two teenage sons and their guide died in the French Alps on Monday after being engulfed by an avalanche at Tignes ski resort, rescue workers said.

Sources at Tignes ski school said the four victims were a father, his son aged 19, a stepson aged 15 and their 60-year-old guide, described as “well-known and a very good skier”.

All four had been carrying transmitters designed to help rescuers locate avalanche victims.

The group were snowboarding off-piste only a few dozen metres (yards) from a ski lift when the avalanche hit, and staff raised the alarm immediately, officials said. The cascade of snow and ice was some 400 metres) wide.

Around 40 rescue workers with sniffer dogs and snowploughs were deployed to search the snow for other possible victims but fears that there was a fifth casualty were later dispelled.

“We have reason to believe there are no other victims,” local official Nicolas Martenchard told reporters. Authorities had initially said there were nine people in the group.

The avalanche was the deadliest of its kind in the French Alps since the start of the winter and took place at the height of France’s annual ski holidays.

Published in Dawn February 14th, 2017