France, Jul 13: French authorities on Thursday night called off the search and rescue operation of climbers who were caught in a deadly avalanche in Chamonix, after the last two missing climbers were accounted for.
Nine European climbers - three Britons, three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swiss climber, were killed in the avalanche on Thursday morning.
A dozen climbers were also left injured, and were taken to the nearby hospital in Sallanches, a town close to Chamonix.
According to an employee at the hospital, as of Thursday evening, all of those injured in the avalanche had been moved out of the emergency services department and were transferred to other departments or hospitals in other cities.
Among the injured was an American, the only known non-European. A seriously injured Swiss citizen was transported to a Swiss hospital.
Authorities said that a climber trying to scale Mont Blanc may accidentally have caused a slab of ice to snap off, sparking the avalanche.
Early summer storms apparently left behind heavy snow that combined with high winds to form dangerous overhanging conditions on some of the popular climbing routes around the mountain.
Regional authorities had warned climbers earlier this summer to be careful because of an unusually snowy spring.
Hashmat Popat, a British tourist who is spending his family vacation in Chamonix, said he was shocked by the news of the avalanche.
“You come into the mountains, then you think - I will just go up, take the cable car and do whatever you want to do,” he said. “But I think, certainly I might take a second thought before doing some things you might take for granted now.”
French investigators have said they will examine the circumstances of the avalanche deaths.
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