A British skier, believed to be in his 50s, was tragically killed by an avalanche while skiing off-piste at the La Plagne resort in south-eastern France. The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon, prompting a large-scale rescue mission following an avalanche alert received at 1:57 PM.

A team of more than 50 people, including medics, ski school instructors, and dogs (specifically a helicopter-deployed piste dog), were immediately deployed to the site. After an extensive 50-minute search, the man was located buried under approximately 2.5 meters (eight feet) of snow. Despite the significant efforts of the rescue team, he could not be revived.

According to a statement from the La Plagne resort, the man was skiing alongside a group when the avalanche took place. However, he was reportedly not equipped with an avalanche transceiver and was not accompanied by a professional instructor at the time of the incident. La Plagne expressed its deepest condolences, stating its thoughts were with the man’s family.

This fatality was part of a devastating weekend in the French Alps, which saw a total of six skiers lose their lives in various avalanche incidents. On Sunday, three separate avalanches claimed the lives of three off-piste skiers, including the British national. In another incident that day, a 32-year-old skier died in Vallorcine, Haute-Savoie, after being swept away by an avalanche and thrown against a tree, succumbing to his injuries.

Further, rescue teams recovered the body of another skier who had been buried in an avalanche in Courchevel, a detail reported by La Plagne. These Sunday fatalities followed three similar incidents that occurred on Saturday, bringing the weekend's cumulative death toll to six. French weather forecasters had previously issued warnings of a high risk of avalanches for the weekend, and officials in the Savoie region recorded at least six avalanches in its ski areas on Sunday morning, highlighting the severe hazardous conditions.