A fifth person has been found dead and one is still missing after an avalanche near Mont Blanc in southeastern France, the local prosecutor's office said Monday.
One of the country's deadliest avalanches in years swept down the Armancette glacier on Sunday in the Alps, killing two mountain guides and engulfing around 15 people.
After the discovery of four victims on Sunday, prosecutor Karline Bouisset said the body of a 39-year-old woman had been found and "a sixth person is still missing."
One person suffered slight injuries in the avalanche while eight others also swept up were unharmed, the prefecture said.
The avalanche covered an area of 1,600 metres (nearly one mile) by 500 metres.
Skiing conditions had been "good" on Easter Sunday, the mayor of the town of Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told AFP. "I think it's the most deadly avalanche this season."
No avalanche warning had been issued for the region by weather authority Meteo France, but a combination of warmth and wind may have been behind the disaster, according to the prefecture.
"We're thinking of (the victims) as well as of their families," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.
Two brothers died in an avalanche on the same glacier in 2014, both were experienced climbers in their 20s.
An earlier report adds: An avalanche on Sunday near Mont Blanc in southeastern France swept four people to their deaths and left two more missing, the officials said. Among the dead were two mountain guides caught by the snow tumbling down the Armancette glacier, the prefecture for the Haute-Savoie department said.
Investigators had been called in help with the search for the two persons still unaccounted for in the Alps.
One person also suffered slight injuries in the avalanche while eight others also swept up were unharmed, the prefecture said.
The avalanche, covered an area of 1,000 metres by 500 metres