9 dead, 2 missing in Mont Blanc summer avalanche

By John Heilprin, Angela Charlton
Published July 14, 2012 4:00am ET
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9 dead, 2 missing in Mont Blanc summer avalanche
Gendarmes use blankets to hide victims of an avalanche at Chamonix rescue base, French Alps, Thursday, July, 12, 2012. An avalanche in the French Alps swept six European climbers to their deaths on a slope leading to Mont Blanc, and left at least nine others injured and several climbers unaccounted for, authorities said. Two climbers were rescued and emergency crews are searching for the missing. A group of 28 climbers from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Serbia are believed to be in the expedition caught in the avalanche that was about 4,000 meters (13,1000 feet) high on the north face of Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range. (AP Photo) | AP

CHAMONIX, France (AP) — A climber trying to scale Mont Blanc may accidentally have caused a slab of ice to snap off Thursday high in the French Alps, sparking an avalanche that swept nine European climbers to their deaths, authorities said. A dozen climbers were injured and two were still missing by nightfall.

As a sheet of snow and ice thundered down the steep slope, several other climbers managed to turn away from the slide in time, regional authorities in Haute-Savoie said.

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