Tragedy at favourite ski resort of rich and famous
TWO people were killed and 22 injured early yesterday when a fire ripped through a ski village loved by Prince William and his wife Kate.
The blaze broke out after dawn in a block of flats full of seasonal workers in wealthy Courchevel in the French Alps – where William and Kate took their children on holiday in 2016.
Terrified residents leapt from windows or climbed down hastily erected ladders to save their lives. The dead and injured were among hundreds of mainly young staff who move into the resort every winter to work.
Around 60 people were believed to be staying in the apartments.
Last night it was claimed that the residential block did not have fire alarms or working extinguishers. French prosecutors said the blaze was the subject of a criminal investigation.
Local official Frederic Loiseau said the fire spread to two nearby buildings ‘extremely fast, leading to panicked occupants jumping out of windows to save their lives’.
He said the inferno raged for four hours before being ‘fully extinguished by 8.30am’.
Mr Loiseau said the cause of the blaze was not yet clear and the victims had not been identified.
Last night a villager who rescued survivors said: ‘We are in the richest resort in the world and seasonal workers are housed in catastrophic places.’