An avalanche in the French Alps swept away a military unit training in the back country, killing five soldiers from the French Foreign Legion and injuring several others.
The Savoie prefecture confirmed the deaths, and said 11 people out of a group of about 50 were struck by the avalanche on Monday.
It said the soldiers were training off-piste in Valfrejus in the Savoie region.
Jean-Claude Raffin, mayor of Modane, the nearest town, said the soldiers were out for an all-day back-country skiing session when the avalanche hit.
The prefecture said six people were injured, two of them seriously.
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The unit from the southeast of France was skiing at an altitude of about 2000m when the avalanche struck about 2pm.
Julien Aubert, an MP from the Vaucluse region where the unit is based, told BFM television the unit was a mixture of veterans and new soldiers specialised in harsh conditions.
The incident comes just days after a school group also skiing off-piste in the Alps was swept away, killing three people, including two students.
The avalanche risk has been high in the region, where fresh snow has fallen in recent days.
