Two UK avalanche victims named

Two more Britons killed in a major avalanche in the French Alps were named by the Foreign Office today.

Steve Barber, 47, and John Taylor, 48, lived in the same street in Upper Poppleton, a village to the north-west of York.

One of the UK’s most respected climbers, Roger Payne, was also among the nine people who lost their lives after being hit by a massive wall of snow yesterday.

The victims were killed as they traversed Mont Maudit – translated as Cursed Mountain – in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix.

Among the other victims were three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swiss climber.

They were part of a 28-strong group which left a climbing hut to attempt the route, described by local guides as the second most popular to the top of Mont Blanc, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A church service is to be held in Chamonix tomorrow afternoon in memory of the dead climbers, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said.