Six people died after they were struck by an avalanche and submerged in the snow.
The horrifying incident occurred in the French Alps on Easter Sunday (April 9).
A massive wall of snow tumbled down the Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, in the Haute-Savoie region near Mount Blanc.
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Rescuers pulled the bodies of a couple in their 20s and two guides from the snow on Sunday.
The bodies of a 39-year-old woman and a man in his 40s were not recovered until Monday (April 10).
Another person suffered injuries in the deadly avalanche, and eight others were hit but emerged unhurt, according to officials.
The New York Post reported that the massive avalanche was about 3,280 feet long and 328 feet wide.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “We’re thinking of [the victims] as well as of their families.”
Contamines-Montjoie Mayor Francois Barbier told AFP that skiing conditions had been good before tragedy struck.
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“I think it’s the most deadly avalanche this season,” he said.
There was no avalanche warning issued for the region, according to the weather service Météo-France.
It's believed the combination of warmth and wind may have triggered the disaster.
“It’s a particularly alarming tragedy in such good conditions,” said Dorian Labaeye, president of France’s mountain guide union, according to AFP.
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“We have tens of thousands of people doing ski touring at the moment in the Alps, there are usually lots of people on the Easter weekend, and conditions are usually pretty stable at this time of year,” Labaeye told the France Info radio channel.
In 2014, two brothers — both experienced climbers in their 20s — died in an avalanche on the same glacier.
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