French Alps – 5-year-old from Geneva hit by skier and dies on beginner’s slope
Like the French newspaper«La Dauphine» reported, a five-year-old girl died in a piste accident in the Flaine ski area in the Haute-Savoie region. A 40-year-old man was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter. The Bonneville District Attorney told «France blue»: «The child drove in single file behind the group and was about to turn right when it was hit very hard by the skier who was approaching at high speed and who tried in vain to avoid it.»
The girl’s family lives in Geneva but has a second home in Les Carroz, one of the five interconnected ski resorts of the Grand Massif in the French Alps. She died in the rescue helicopter that was supposed to fly her to the hospital. The skier who crashed into her – a member of the volunteer fire brigade – was said to be “devastated” and in shock.
The girl is said to have taken part in a group ski course with the ESF (Ecole du Ski Français) on a blue, i.e. intermediate slope, with four other children. France’s skiing industry has been severely curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic and is currently gradually opening up to visitors from abroad.