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Alps avalanche kills 3 teen skiers, instructor

Officials say an avalanche has killed three teenagers in a high school ski class and their instructor in the French Alps.
Rescuers land at the site of an avalanche that killed four people Wednesday in the French Alps at Valmeinier.
Rescuers land at the site of an avalanche that killed four people Wednesday in the French Alps at Valmeinier.JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT / AFP-Getty Images
/ Source: The Associated Press

An avalanche killed three teenagers in a high school ski class and their instructor in the French Alps on Wednesday, officials said.

Two other students were injured and flown to a hospital.

Eight students were swept up in the avalanche, which was nearly a half-mile long and a quarter-mile wide. It hit near the Valmeinier station as the group was skiing.

Two students escaped without injuries. A teenage boy who had been lagging behind alerted authorities.