British boy, 7, plunges to his death after losing his family on French ski slope

A BRITISH boy of seven has fallen 160ft to his death from a cliff in the Alps after he had become separated from his family while on a skiing holiday.

The youngster had asked to ski alone for the final run of the day but got lost and left the piste before walking through a treacherously steep wooded area, according to a source.

Named locally as Carwyn Scott-Howell, the boy was believed to have been holidaying in the French resort of Flaine with his mother Ceri, elder brother Gerwyn, 19, and nine-year-old sister Antonia.

Police are still trying to piece together the tragic sequence of events, but they believe Carwyn was killed instantly in the fall on Friday after leaving the marked ski slope to look for his family.

Investigators are unsure how he came to be at the top of the steep 320ft-high cliff, which overshadows the Lac de Flaine.

One theory is that he wandered away from a blue run to try to find his family, while there has also been speculation that he may have fallen off one of the ski resort’s lifts. His frantic family began searching for him around 4pm. Becoming increasingly worried, they alerted the piste patrol, which launched a search.

Around 6pm search and rescue workers discovered his tracks in the snow leading through woodland up to the top of the cliff, where they found Carwyn’s abandoned skis.

He was then spotted by rescuers in a helicopter, and they recovered his body around 7.30pm from the bottom of the cliff. The area was described as a ‘dangerous, out-of-bounds area’ by emergency services, who said rescuers had to be winched down from a helicopter to retrieve the body.

Michel Ollagnon, an officer with the Bonneville mountain rescue service, told reporters that Carwyn had been skiing with his mother, brother and sister, but had asked to ski alone for his last descent of the day.

Police chief Patrick Poirot, head of the mountain rescue division in Annecy, said: ‘We think that the little boy didn’t know where to go and skied in the wrong direction.

‘He was just seven years old. He left the marked ski slope and prob- ably skied to the top of a cliff. He then stopped, removed his skis, walked a little way and then fell.

‘He fell 50 metres. Specialists are now at the scene to try to determine exactly what happened and understand every element that led to this tragedy.’

Resort boss Sylvain Philippe, director of the Societe du Domaine Skiable de Flaine, said: ‘The whole resort has been affected by the death of this young boy. We are thinking above all of his family. An enquiry into his death has started to find out the exact circumstances of what happened.

‘Unfortunately and sadly they confirmed that his body was found off piste in an area of the resort called Aujon.

‘He was very far from the piste; it’s not a skiable area. He was unfortunately found in the middle of the cliffs, everyone has been very affected by it. We’re working with the police and the family on this and we will be helping the family for as long as they need.’

Carwyn’s mother Ceri lives with her husband Rhys in the Brecon Beacons where the pair run the award-winning Coity Bach Farm near Talybont-on-Usk.

The farm rents out its ‘four-star gold award’ self-catering cottages to visitors and is well known for its prize-winning speciality sausages.

David Cameron was once pictured buying scotch eggs from the couple’s stand at an agricultural show in Wales in July 2014.

Last night, relatives at the farm were too upset to speak, but a neighbour told of the village’s shock: ‘It’s extremely sad – they are a loving family and he was a smashing lad.

‘I haven’t even broken the news to my own children yet, it’s just too shocking.’

Another added: ‘Ceri is a great mum and they’re well-loved in the village. We will all rally round her when they return from France.’

An assistant from Ski Set, a shop in the resort from where the family hired their ski equipment, said: ‘They loved skiing. They said they had been to lots of ski resorts before. They were a very nice family. The little boy seemed just happy to be on holiday.’

‘A very dangerous out of bounds area’