British Seven-Year-Old Boy Killed On French Alps Skiing Holiday

British Seven-Year-Old Dies During Skiing Holiday

A seven-year-old boy has fallen to his death in a skiing accident while on a family holiday in the French Alps.

The boy apparently became separated from his family as they skied in the resort of Flaine on Friday afternoon.

Michel Ollagnon, an officer with the Bonneville mountain rescue service, told reporters that the boy fell off a rocky outcrop after apparently losing his way.

Snow at Flaine, the resort where the boy died

An emergency services spokesman told Sky News: "He hit a rocky outcrop, then fell 50 to 100 metres."

Ollagnon said the boy was skiing with his mother, brother and sister, and had asked to ski alone for his last descent of the day.

His body was spotted off his expected course by rescuers in a helicopter in the early evening.

Police chief Patrick Poirot, the head of the mountain rescue division in the nearby town of Annecy, told the Daily Mirror: "Specialists are at the scene to try and determine exactly what happened and understand every element that led to this tragedy.

"Hypothetically we think that after losing his parents, the little boy didn't know where to go and skied in the wrong direction.

"He's just seven-years-old. He left the marked ski slope and probably skied to the top of a cliff. He then stopped, removed his skis, walked a little way and then fell. He fell 50 metres."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Flaine, France, on April 10.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

Officials would not release the boy's identity or other details about the family.

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