Story highlights Four climbers thought to be missing are found alive and well, police say 
 
 Police: Three of the dead are British, three German, two Spanish and one Swiss 
 
 28 climbers were caught by falling snow high in the Mont Blanc range, police say 
 
 French climbers were also involved in the accident 
 
 A summer climbing expedition in the French Alps turned to tragedy early Thursday when a six-foot wall of snow came crashing down on two groups of climbers, leaving nine dead, French police said. 
 
 Two people caught in the avalanche on the Mont Blanc massif were found alive in the snow afterward. 
 
 Four others had been unaccounted for but later were found, police said. They had taken a different path on the mountain. 
 
 Before the four were found, the search for them had been suspended just before 5 p.m. because of weather conditions, police said. 
 
 Three people from Germany, three from Britain, two from Spain and one from Switzerland were killed, Haute-Savoie police said, but the nationalities of the missing are unknown. There were also French climbers in the party. 
 
 Twelve people were injured, some of whom have already left the hospital because they had only minor injuries, police said. 
 
 Police said a slab of snow and ice was thought to have triggered the avalanche but did not know what had dislodged it. 
 
 Two groups of climbers were caught in the avalanche on the north side of Mont Maudit in the Mont Blanc range, near Chamonix on the French-Italian border, police said. 
 
 A total of 28 climbers in the two groups were connected by ropes, said authorities in Annecy, France. 
 
 Some of the climbers managed to get themselves back to their base at the Refuge des Cosmiques and raised the alarm. A mountain rescue unit was called out at 5:25 a.m. 
 
 The route the climbers were taking up Mont Maudit is very popular with alpinists tackling the mighty Mont Blanc, said Alexis Hennebelle of Radio Mont Blanc. 
 
 The climbers were very unlucky to be caught in such a catastrophic avalanche, he told CNN. 
 
 Local newspaper Le Dauphine said it was the deadliest accident in the French Alps since 2003. 
 
 French Interior Minister Manuel Valls visited Chamonix on Thursday afternoon to see the rescue efforts for himself. 
 
 Speaking to reporters, he said the Mont Blanc range is, sadly, often the scene of dramas, but this is a particularly unfortunate incident. 
 
 Valls paid tribute to the efforts of the emergency workers, French and Italian, who searched in perilous conditions of snow, ice and wind from the early morning for those who were missing. 
 
 "They've shown their professionalism, their sense of duty, to bring help in difficult conditions," he said. 
 
 Valls said it was too soon to establish any responsibility for what had happened, and asked people to wait for the results of an investigation. 
 
 Chamonix official Jean-Louis Verdier, who is responsible for mountain security, said there had been no clue Thursday morning that such a deadly avalanche might be unleashed. 
 
 The climbers were on a steep slope where there was snow, which meant an avalanche was possible, but there was no reason to suspect it would happen then, he told CNN affiliate BFM TV. 
 
 Bertrand Francois, of the Haute-Savoie police, told BFM the number of victims was a result of the high number of people in the area at this time of year. 
 
 CNN meteorologist Mari Ramos said changes in temperature and heavy rainfall over the past week in the area may have created conditions in which sheets of ice like the one that fell are formed. 
 
 According to the website pistehors.com, which recorded climbing deaths in the French Alps between 2003 and 2008, the number of deaths seen Thursday is unusual in a single incident. 
 
 For the 2007-2008 season, there were 12 recorded avalanche deaths for climbers, eight of them in one accident. However, in the other years, the annual total for climbing deaths by avalanche ranged between one and five, according to its figures. 
 
 Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Western Europe, at nearly 15,800 feet. 
 
 Mont Maudit, about 1,000 feet lower and the third-highest peak in the range, seems to have lived up to its name, which can be translated as "hateful" or "cursed." ||||| Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 
 
 A 12-year-old boy has died after falling almost 500ft off a cliff while skiing in the French Alps with his younger brother. 
 
 The children, who were on holiday with their family, both fell from the cliff after leaving the piste in Avoriaz in Les Portes du Soleil, it was reported. 
 
 Their father raised the alarm after the tragic pair failed to return to the ski station on Saturday afternoon. 
 
 A frantic search was launched and the body of the 12-year-old was discovered at the foot of a cliff in the early hours of Sunday morning. 
 
 His 10-year-old brother had survived the fall. He was found conscious and taken to hospital in Thonon-les-bains. 
 
 (Image: Hemis.fr RM) 
 
 (Image: Google Streetview) 
 
 The boys had been skiing on Saturday with their family at the resort near the border with Switzerland. 
 
 The last lift they took was the Baron teleski. 
 
 They left the piste late on Saturday afternoon and entered a forest together in the super-Morzine area at the junction of the Avoriaz and Morzine domaines. 
 
 Police were contacted by their worried father after they failed to return. 
 
 They were discovered at 4am on Sunday after plunging almost 500ft from the cliff, Europe 1 reported. 
 
 (Image: REX/Shutterstock) 
 
 There has been a number of tragedies involving Brit tourists in the Alps this season. 
 
 Last week, a 21-year-old man died after crashing into a tree in the Swiss resort of Les Diablerets. 
 
 Two men from Cambridge died in Chamonix, France, skiing off-piste at the end of January. 
 
 Earlier that month, British skier John Promell, 39, went missing in the French resort of Tignes after heading off for “one last run” during bad weather. 
 
 His disappearance came just days after Owen Lewis, 22, from Coventry, froze to death after getting lost in the French resort of Risoul.
– Two people caught in today's avalanche in the French Alps have been found alive in the snow, CNN reports, and four others who had been deemed missing have been located, and are unscathed. Rescuers had broken off the search for the four because of weather conditions, but they eventually discovered that two had turned back early and the other two had taken a different route, according to the BBC. The total confirmed dead remains at nine. Twelve others were injured in the incident, though some so mildly that they've already left the hospital. The mayor of Charmonix said that the avalanche was a random occurrence. "We had no more reason than usual to be alarmed." Veteran mountain guides say the area is highly avalanche-prone, with slabs of snow that "can easily be set off by a passing climber."