Mont Blanc avalanche leaves 6 dead, 9 injured, others missing | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Mont Blanc avalanche leaves 6 dead, 9 injured, others missing

CORRECTS DATE OF AVALANCHE TO JULY 12, 2012 FILE - This June 1, 2005 file picture shows alpinists on the Arete Cosmique with a view of the north side of Mont Blanc du Tacul, left, the Mont Maudit, center, and the Mont Blanc, right. An avalanche in the French Alps on Thursday July 12, 2012 swept six climbers to their deaths, left at least nine injured and about a dozen others unaccounted for, authorities said. Rescuers are searching for the missing. (AP Photo/fls/Keystone/Arno Balzarini, File)

PARIS - An avalanche in the French Alps on Thursday swept six climbers to their deaths, left at least nine injured and about a dozen others unaccounted for, authorities said. Rescuers are searching for the missing.

About 28 climbers from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Serbia were believed to be involved in the expedition caught in the avalanche, according to the local gendarme service and Danish Foreign Ministry.

The gendarme service in Chamonix says they were alerted around 5:25 a.m. (0325GMT) Thursday to the avalanche on Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range.

Several dozen gendarmes and other rescuers and two helicopters worked to pull the dead and injured from the mountain. The injured climbers were hospitalized, the gendarme service said, though their condition is unclear.

The French InteriorMinistry said six were killed and nine injured. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls will travel to the site later Thursday.

The Danish Foreign Ministry says two Danes are involved in the avalanche, though it is unclear whether they were among the dead and injured.

News from © The Associated Press, 2012
The Associated Press

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