Story highlights
Avalance in the French Alps killed five soldiers Monday on a training exercise, authorities said
Last week, two students and a Ukrainian skier were killed by an avalanche
Five soldiers were killed in an avalanche Monday while taking part in military training in the French Alps, a representative of the prefecture of Savoy told CNN.
Four other soldiers were injured when they were swept away, and two are being treated for hypothermia.
All of the victims are from southeast France’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment of Saint-Christol and were among 50 soldiers taking part in a high-mountain exercise near Valfrejus, just a few kilometers from the Italian border.
The accident comes just four days after another deadly avalanche in the Alps.
On Thursday, two teenagers from a school group died after being engulfed by an avalanche on a closed slope at the Les Deux Alpes ski resort. A Ukrainian skier also died.
The teacher who led a group of 10 students from a school in Lyon on the ski trip was being investigated for involuntary manslaughter, according to Grenoble prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat.
The group took a slope that was marked closed because of a lack of snow and was at a high risk of avalanche, he said.
