Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock

Five people died in a deadly weekend for extreme sports in the Alps

Four separate accidents caused the five deaths.

FIVE PEOPLE DIED in a deadly weekend for extreme sports in the French Alps that claimed the lives of two climbers, a paraglider, a hang glider and a wingsuit jumper.

On Sunday afternoon, rescuers found a paraglider’s body on rocks in the Haute-Savoie region on the Swiss border, security forces said.

The man had plunged to his death from the Buclon mountain, which is 2,072 metres high.

Earlier on Sunday, two French climbers — a 34-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman — died further south, after crashing 50 metres down La Meije mountain.

On Saturday, a 32-year-old man also died after diving off the Dent d’Arclusaz mountain in a wingsuit. Another wingsuit specialist had died in exactly the same spot three years earlier.

Earlier in the day, a hang gliding instructor, 49, died after plunging out of his two-seater near Lake Annecy, a popular haunt for lovers of the sport.

His shocked student, who was not harmed in the incident, managed to land and alert the emergency services.

Rescuers were unable to resuscitate the victim, however.

© – AFP 2016

Read: Teenager among six people killed in avalanche in Italian Alps >

Read: Five skiers killed, 17 others engulfed in snow as avalanche hits Austrian Alps >

Author
View 27 comments
Close
27 Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
    JournalTv
    News in 60 seconds