Nine dead, more missing after Alps avalanche - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Nine dead, more missing after Alps avalanche

The death toll after an avalanche in the French Alps has risen to nine after three more bodies were found, authorities said Thursday.

Earlier it was reported that five Britons and two Spaniards were missing after the avalanche swept over a group of climbers.

Six of the dead have been identified as two German, two Swiss and two Spanish climbers. More people are believed to have been injured, police said.

Emergency services have been dispatched to the scene.

Local authorities said the avalanche was "the most deadly of recent years".

Police said that the avalanche had hit two roped groups of climbers.

One of the injured sounded the alert at around 0325 GMT after the avalanche on Mont Maudit, a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif.

Mont Maudit is the massif's third-highest peak rising to an altitude of 4,465 metres (14,650 feet)

Authorities in the nearby town of Chamonix were to hold a press conference later Thursday.