French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
naires were killed in an
avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
in the
Massif des Cerces
The massif des Cerces is a region of the French Alps on the Franco-Italian border. On the French side it lies in the departements of Hautes-Alpes and Savoie.
The massif consists of smaller mountain chains including Mont Thabor as well as those of ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
Background
The combination of heavy winter snowfall and strong winds in the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
led to unstable snow formations in the high peaks. The avalanche warning was raised to 3 out of 5 (Considerable) beforehand.
An avalanche bulletin for the mountain sector warned that a single skier could trigger a surface slide that could then take several layers in the snow pack down to 2 meters deep.
Avalanche
On 18 January, a division of 51 Legionnaires, assigned to the
2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment
The 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (french: 2e Régiment Etranger de Génie, 2e REG) is one of two combat engineer regiments of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. The regiment provides the combat engineering component of the 27th Mountain I ...
(2nd REG) took part in an off-piste ski mountain exercise, to receive their Skier Certificate (BSM).
The (2nd REG) provides combat engineering services to the French Army's 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade, who were also present during the military exercise. The course took place 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of
Albertville
Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France.
It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...
and near the
Valfréjus
Modane (; ) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.
The commune is in the Maurienne Valley, and it also belongs to the Vanoise National Park. It was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia until ...
ski resort, in the
Massif des Cerces
The massif des Cerces is a region of the French Alps on the Franco-Italian border. On the French side it lies in the departements of Hautes-Alpes and Savoie.
The massif consists of smaller mountain chains including Mont Thabor as well as those of ...
.
The company was at a height of 2,600m (8,500 ft) when the avalanche struck at 13:50, while 5-6 of the skiers neared Col de Le Petit Argentier. A large slab of ice, about 100 meters wide, broke off a ridge causing a mass avalanche. Several branches of snow about 400 meters wide, engulfed 13 of the skiers in a steep sector of the valley. In all, 18 of the skiers downstream were either buried or shaken. The rest of the company remained at the foot of the slope, near the Pas du Roc peak.
Rescue teams arrived within minutes. The 13 skiers were recovered and found buried under a meter of snow by rescuers with the help of search dogs and avalanche victim detection kits (DVA)'s they were equipped with.
Aftermath
French military and state prosecutors are investigating the case and assessing whether the unit took unnecessary risks. According to French media, the unit was due to be sent on a military operation. Around one-third of the company was projected to be deployed to the Sahel in the coming months in coordination with
Operation Barkhane
Operation Barkhane was an anti-insurgent operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region.
French president François Hollande expressed "the nation’s solidarity" over the deaths and wished the injured a speedy recovery. He asked Defence Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian
Jean-Yves Le Drian (; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician who served as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex (2017–2022) and as Minister of Defence under Presi ...
to head to the scene of the accident.
Fatalities
The nationalities of the 6 Legionnaires killed, a mix of veterans and new recruits, was released the following day. A Malagasy (dual French citizenship), Italian, Nepalese, Moldovan, Albanian, and Hungarian, aged between 21 and 33 were killed.