Branson and son were ‘seconds from death’

Sir Richard Branson and his son Sam came seconds from death as falling rocks “the size of small cars” crashed over their heads before they reached the summit of Mont Blanc.

The billionaire businessman said he felt there was “definitely a friendly star above our family” as they had to scramble behind large boulders during the dramatic incident.

He said the team of climbers were picked up by a helicopter after reaching the summit as they agreed the path back down was not worth the risk.

The 68-year-old, along with Sam and his nephew Noah Devereux reached the top of the mountain on Saturday afternoon after completing the 33-day Virgin Strive Chal- 0 Richard Branson: billionaire businessman had lucky escape

lenge – a 2,000km trek across Western Europe. He said: “God forbid, a few seconds earlier it would not have been as pretty – so I’m very thankful we got through it. There’s definitely a friendly star above our family and it keeps a watchful eye over us. Three seconds earlier and we would all certainly have been killed.”