Seven people died in an avalanche Tuesday that struck a French Alps mountain hugely popular with climbers, according to local officials in the Hautes-Alpes region, reports The Washington Post.
Three German and two Czech male climbers died in the avalanche that occurred near the town of Pelvoux, officials said in a release. The nationalities of the two other male victims hasn’t been established yet, and one German woman was injured in the incident, officials said.
Climbers had been roped in three different groups when the avalanche struck, said Hautes Alpes Prefect Pierre Besnard, the Associated Press reported. The avalanche struck the 4,000-metre (or 13,000 feet) snow dome of the Ecrin massif, a popular attraction for climbers as it doesn’t require high-level skills.
Helicopters, rescuers, dogs and doctors were all deployed as part of the emergency response, officials said.
Tuesday’s death toll makes the avalanche one of the single deadliest in the French Alps in recent years. In 2012, nine climbers died and 11 others injured in the Mount Blanc avalanche that occurred during the summer climbing season.
AFP, citing France’s National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches, reports that 39 people in France have died this year due to snowslides.