Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christian Trommsdorff spoke to the BBC from near the scene of the accident 
 
 Nine climbers have been killed in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix. 
 
 Three of those killed were from the UK, three from Germany, two from Spain and one from Switzerland. Twelve other climbers were reported injured. 
 
 Local authorities deployed rescue teams in helicopters and said it was the deadliest avalanche in recent memory. 
 
 Police said four others believed to have been missing - two Britons and two Spaniards - had now been accounted for. 
 
 The Britons had started out on their climb but turned back, while the Spaniards had chosen a different route, said Emmanuel Vegas, a lieutenant with Chamonix police. 
 
 The alarm was sounded at 05:25 local time (03:25 GMT) by one of the injured on the slopes of Mont Maudit. 
 
 At the scene This should be the safest time of the year for high-altitude climbing - and the Mont Blanc region in July is very popular with climbers from all over Europe. But at 4,000-plus metres there is ice and snow all year round and no ascent can be completely risk-free. On Thursday morning the avalanche, described as a huge slab of ice and snow, swept nine climbers to their deaths, and injured several others. Many were highly experienced, among the dead was the respected British climber and mountain guide Roger Payne. A French mountain guide is among the injured. But at the end of a day of tragedy in the Alps, there was one moment of better news: four missing climbers, thought to have been buried in the avalanche, were reported safe and well. Two had chosen not to make the final ascent, while the other two had taken a different route. 
 
 The route is popular with summer tourists heading for the summit of Mont Blanc. 
 
 In all, 28 climbers were roped together in several groups on Thursday morning. 
 
 They are believed to have reached 4,000m (13,120 ft) when the avalanche struck. 
 
 Chamonix mayor Jean-Louis Verdier told Reuters news agency the avalanche was completely unexpected. 
 
 "We had no more reason than usual to be alarmed," he said. 
 
 "It's a steep mountain face. There are big plates of snow where an avalanche can easily occur. But this morning we had no reason to expect an avalanche of this size and such a tragedy." 
 
 The French authorities described the avalanche as "the most deadly" in recent years. 
 
 Chamonix-based mountain guide Richard Mansfield described the area as "very beautiful", but said that it was avalanche-prone. 
 
 He said the slopes on Mont Maudit faced away from the prevailing wind, which meant snow could be pushed over forming slabs. 
 
 Mont Maudit Third-highest peak in the Mont Blanc massif range at 4,465m 
 
 Translates from French as cursed mountain 
 
 Popular route for tourists heading to Mont Blanc 
 
 First ascent of Mont Maudit completed in 1878 
 
 Southern side is steeper than the gentle northern snow slopes How avalanches happen In pictures: Chamonix avalanche 
 
 "These can easily be set off by a passing climber, causing an avalanche," he said. 
 
 Visiting the area, Interior Minister Manuel Valls described the incident as "catastrophic" and said a full investigation was under way. 
 
 British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "very saddened" by the tragedy and thanked the French rescue services for their efforts. 
 
 "We are in very close contact with the French authorities and our ambassador and consular officials are heading to Chamonix to provide consular assistance. We will offer whatever support and assistance we can," he said in a statement. 
 
 The UK Foreign Office later confirmed that one of the British climbers killed in the Alps was Roger Payne, a former chief executive of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and president of the British Mountain Guides. 
 
 Mont Maudit - meaning the "cursed mountain" - is the third-highest peak in the Mont Blanc massif range, rising to 4,465m. 
 
 Eight climbers were killed in an avalanche near Mont Maudit in 2008. ||||| Story highlights Four climbers thought to be missing are found alive and well, police say 
 
 Police: Three of the dead are British, three German, two Spanish and one Swiss 
 
 28 climbers were caught by falling snow high in the Mont Blanc range, police say 
 
 French climbers were also involved in the accident 
 
 A summer climbing expedition in the French Alps turned to tragedy early Thursday when a six-foot wall of snow came crashing down on two groups of climbers, leaving nine dead, French police said. 
 
 Two people caught in the avalanche on the Mont Blanc massif were found alive in the snow afterward. 
 
 Four others had been unaccounted for but later were found, police said. They had taken a different path on the mountain. 
 
 Before the four were found, the search for them had been suspended just before 5 p.m. because of weather conditions, police said. 
 
 Three people from Germany, three from Britain, two from Spain and one from Switzerland were killed, Haute-Savoie police said, but the nationalities of the missing are unknown. There were also French climbers in the party. 
 
 Twelve people were injured, some of whom have already left the hospital because they had only minor injuries, police said. 
 
 Police said a slab of snow and ice was thought to have triggered the avalanche but did not know what had dislodged it. 
 
 Two groups of climbers were caught in the avalanche on the north side of Mont Maudit in the Mont Blanc range, near Chamonix on the French-Italian border, police said. 
 
 A total of 28 climbers in the two groups were connected by ropes, said authorities in Annecy, France. 
 
 Some of the climbers managed to get themselves back to their base at the Refuge des Cosmiques and raised the alarm. A mountain rescue unit was called out at 5:25 a.m. 
 
 The route the climbers were taking up Mont Maudit is very popular with alpinists tackling the mighty Mont Blanc, said Alexis Hennebelle of Radio Mont Blanc. 
 
 The climbers were very unlucky to be caught in such a catastrophic avalanche, he told CNN. 
 
 Local newspaper Le Dauphine said it was the deadliest accident in the French Alps since 2003. 
 
 French Interior Minister Manuel Valls visited Chamonix on Thursday afternoon to see the rescue efforts for himself. 
 
 Speaking to reporters, he said the Mont Blanc range is, sadly, often the scene of dramas, but this is a particularly unfortunate incident. 
 
 Valls paid tribute to the efforts of the emergency workers, French and Italian, who searched in perilous conditions of snow, ice and wind from the early morning for those who were missing. 
 
 "They've shown their professionalism, their sense of duty, to bring help in difficult conditions," he said. 
 
 Valls said it was too soon to establish any responsibility for what had happened, and asked people to wait for the results of an investigation. 
 
 Chamonix official Jean-Louis Verdier, who is responsible for mountain security, said there had been no clue Thursday morning that such a deadly avalanche might be unleashed. 
 
 The climbers were on a steep slope where there was snow, which meant an avalanche was possible, but there was no reason to suspect it would happen then, he told CNN affiliate BFM TV. 
 
 Bertrand Francois, of the Haute-Savoie police, told BFM the number of victims was a result of the high number of people in the area at this time of year. 
 
 CNN meteorologist Mari Ramos said changes in temperature and heavy rainfall over the past week in the area may have created conditions in which sheets of ice like the one that fell are formed. 
 
 According to the website pistehors.com, which recorded climbing deaths in the French Alps between 2003 and 2008, the number of deaths seen Thursday is unusual in a single incident. 
 
 For the 2007-2008 season, there were 12 recorded avalanche deaths for climbers, eight of them in one accident. However, in the other years, the annual total for climbing deaths by avalanche ranged between one and five, according to its figures. 
 
 Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Western Europe, at nearly 15,800 feet. 
 
 Mont Maudit, about 1,000 feet lower and the third-highest peak in the range, seems to have lived up to its name, which can be translated as "hateful" or "cursed."
– Two people caught in today's avalanche in the French Alps have been found alive in the snow, CNN reports, and four others who had been deemed missing have been located, and are unscathed. Rescuers had broken off the search for the four because of weather conditions, but they eventually discovered that two had turned back early and the other two had taken a different route, according to the BBC. The total confirmed dead remains at nine. Twelve others were injured in the incident, though some so mildly that they've already left the hospital. The mayor of Charmonix said that the avalanche was a random occurrence. "We had no more reason than usual to be alarmed." Veteran mountain guides say the area is highly avalanche-prone, with slabs of snow that "can easily be set off by a passing climber."