British girl, 5, killed as high speed skier smashes into her in the Alps
A BRITISH girl aged five has died in the French Alps after a collision with a skier who careered into her at ‘high speed’.
The man who hit her was in custody last night facing manslaughter charges after the tragedy on a beginners’ slope in the resort of Flaine on Saturday at around midday.
The girl, who was taking part in a lesson with other children, was named by her ski school as Ophelie.
She lived with her British parents in Geneva and they own a holiday home in Les Carroz, a nearby Alpine ski resort.
Karline Bouisset, the public prosecutor in nearby Bonneville, said the 40-year-old suspect, a volunteer fireman, had been ‘skiing at high speed’ on a blue ‘easy’ slope.
She was in a group lesson run by the national ski school, Ecole du Ski Francais (ESF), with four other children, who were in single file behind the instructor near the edge of the piste.
ESF Flaine said on Facebook: ‘Flaine’s ESF is mourning today. All our thoughts are with little Ophelie, her parents and sister, as well as our monitor for these difficult times.’
The skier faces a manslaughter charge based on a ‘deliberate violation of safety obligations’ – a crime that is punishable with up to five years in prison, and a fine equivalent to £62,000.
The Frenchman tried to administer first aid to the child. A doctor was also believed to have been present.
But Ophelie did not recover consciousness and died on her way to hospital in a helicopter at about 1pm.
‘A judicial investigation is likely to be opened at the end of the custody period,’ said Miss Bouisset, who added that the man was ‘in a state of significant shock’.
She added: ‘The child was in a single file behind the group and was about to make a right turn when she was very violently hit by the skier arriving at high speed who tried in vain to avoid her.’
Jean-Paul Constant, the mayor of nearby Araches-la-Frasse, said authorities had yesterday been ‘actively looking for a psychologist who speaks English for the family, who have returned to Geneva’.
‘They are suffering from extreme shock, as are many others involved in this tragedy,’ he said.
The suspect, who comes from Saint-Jeoire, is offering his full cooperation to the authorities. A post-mortem examination will take place today to determine the cause of death.
In an attempt to reduce accidents on pistes, some ski resorts in France and Switzerland have introduced speed cameras and hand-held radar devices to warn those skiing too fast.
The limit on many slopes has been set at 30kph, a little under 19mph, but far lower speeds are expected on easier slopes.
Nicknamed the ‘big snowy bowl’,
Flaine was one of the first ski resorts to open following the Covid pandemic last November.
In 2016, British expat Jackie Read, 54, was killed at the resort when a 14-year-old novice snowboarder collided with her, sending her flying down the slope and severing her spinal cord.
A year earlier seven-year-old Carwyn Scott-Howell, from Brecon in South Wales, plunged to his death in Flaine.
The schoolboy fell at least 160ft after leaving a piste when he became separated from his family during the skiing holiday.
His family said the accident ‘should never have happened’.
‘Death should never have happened’