PARIS, Jan. 14 (UPI) — French officials are planning to arrest the teacher who apparently took children onto a closed section of a ski run in the French Alps before an avalanche killed three.
The teacher will not yet be taken into custody due to the extent of his injuries amid a manslaughter investigation. A 57-year-old male Ukrainian tourist and two French students — a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl — were killed following Wednesday’s avalanche in the Les Deux Alpes ski resort in France’s Isère province. The teacher and two other students were injured.
“A investigation has been launched,” French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters. “All light will be thrown on the circumstances of this tragedy.”
Witnesses suggest the avalanche was likely triggered by groups skiing in the area, which has experienced large quantities of snow fall recently. The school group was skiing on the Bellecombe piste, one of the most difficult tracks of the mountain.
Officials said the ski run was posted with warnings signs and had been blocked with netting at the top of the run, which was reportedly closed all season.
“How could you consider taking children, after a period of heavy snow, on to a piste that was closed?” French Minister for Sport and Youth Patrick Kanner told Europe 1.
The students are from the Saint-Exupéry de Lyon High School in central France. About 80 people, including military, police and rescue dogs, participated in efforts to rescue the teacher, the Ukrainian and the nine children. Helicopters were used to transport the dead and injured and one helicopter was equipped with a thermal camera.
“Great sadness after the avalanche of this afternoon in Les Deux Alpes,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday in a tweet. “All our thoughts with the victims and to those who are fighting for life.”
