Survivor tells how avalanche swept friends to their death

A CLIMBER who survived a Scottish avalanche that killed three of his friends has spoken from hospital of the terrifying moment they were swept to their deaths.

Mathieu Biselx described how the party of four experienced climbers from France and Switzerland were flung down a steep gully on Ben Nevis by a torrent of heavy snow. “It’s terrible, they’re not here any more. They won’t see their families again,” he said.

Disaster struck when the men, all members of the Club Alpin Suisse de Sion, were caught on the mountain as Storm Gareth blew in on Tuesday.

The four climbers were hit by a “massive” avalanche at around 11.50am as they made their way up Gully No5 on the north-east of the peak, sparking a huge search and recovery operation.

Two of the men killed were French nationals, aged 41 and 32, while the third fatality was a Swiss man aged 43.

Speaking from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, M. Biselx, 30, from the Alpine town of Sion who studied economics and business at Cardiff University, said: “We were not very high and all of a sudden we heard a noise. Two seconds later, we were swept away. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, only my head and one arm came out of the snow mass.”

M. Biselx, the club president, added: “I am seriously injured in both legs, but I’ll get out. But my friends, fathers, family men ... This is a terrible event.”