Two Britons are among three skiers to have been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps.

The pair were part of a group of five people, accompanied by an instructor, off-piste skiing in Val d’Isère, in south-east France. A French national, who was skiing alone, was also killed.

Albertville prosecutor Benoit Bachelet said the ski instructor, who avoided injury, tested negative after taking blood and drug tests. He added that another British person had sustained minor injuries.

A manslaughter investigation was launched by the Albertville public prosecutor’s office and will be carried out by CRS Alpes mountain rescue police.

France’s national weather service had issued a red alert for avalanche risk for the area on Thursday.

In the Italian Alps, avalanches recently claimed the lives of 11 people in the space of seven days as a result of exceptionally unstable snow conditions.

Those killed included a 70-year-old hiker, who was found dead last Sunday in the Veneto region of the country, which is hosting the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Italy’s rescue service said the risk of avalanches was present across most of the Alpine range from west to east.

With fresh snow accumulating on older and unstable layers, even the movement of a single skier can trigger an avalanche, the rescue service said in a statement to Reuters.