(CNN) At least four people were killed and several others injured in an avalanche that hit the French Alps over the weekend.
Interior Minister Gérald Dormanin tweeted on Sunday that emergency workers were deployed after the incident on the Armanchet glacier near Mont Blanc in southeastern France. Rescue work is ongoing.
Clouds of snow rolled down the mountainside, according to video footage shared by Reuters and tweeted by the nearby ski resort of Contamines-Montjoie.
The avalanche spread over an area of 1 kilometer to 500 meters at an altitude of 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), a spokesman for local authorities in Haute-Savoie told Reuters.
The victims were backcountry skiers who were swept away in the avalanche and the identities of the victims are being confirmed.
The mayor of the town of Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told Agence France-Presse it was “the deadliest avalanche of the season”.
French President Emmanuel Macron offered his condolences to the victims and their loved ones.
“On the Armanset glacier in the Alps, an avalanche has caused casualties. We are thinking of them and their families. Our rescue teams are mobilized to find those still trapped in the snow. Our thoughts are with them,” Macron tweeted. Sunday.
CNN’s Joseph Ataman contributed reporting.
