Briton dies in avalanche after heavy snowfall across the Alps

A 27-year-old British man has died after being swept away by an avalanche at the French ski resort at Val Thorens after unusually heavy storms across the Alps.

- Kim Willsher

The victim, who has not been named, was reportedly at the side of a road at the lower side of the town when he was struck by a wall of snow that carried him 15 metres (50 feet) down the mountain on Thursday morning. He was taken to hospital in Grenoble with cardiorespiratory failure but died in the evening.

The incident occurred as France's Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments and other alpine regions were put under the highest alert for avalanches after heavy snow, rain and flooding caused chaos across the region.

"Two municipal police officers and a patrol of three gendarmes on foot, alerted by a witness, arrived at the scene as quickly as possible and managed to extract the victim, who was in cardiorespiratory arrest at the time," the local police prefecture said in a statement.

The man was standing "at the side of the road... and was buried and swept some 15 metres below", it said.