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Two children die after ski resort landslide

Two children have died after a giant boulder crashed into the Alpine ski chalet they were sleeping in.

The incident happened at around 5am on Sunday near the Isola 2000 resort in southern France, when a 32ft high, 16ft wide boulder became dislodged from the cliff above, according to The Telegraph.

Local emergency staff attended the scene, but the victims are yet to be identified.

The survivors were taken to St Roch hospital in Nice, 70 miles away.

There they were treated for minor injuries and shock, and are being given counselling.

Isola mayor Jean-Marie Bogini confirmed that there was a landslide.

“There were seven people in the house – five adults and two children,” he said.

He added that while some family members escaped, the seven and the 10-year-old could not get out.

Gendarme commander Gael Marchand said: “Three of the survivors managed to get out of the rubble alone, while the remaining two had to be freed by the emergency service.”

He added that the boulder first landed on the road above the chalet, but then bounced down.

“One possible reason for the landslide is that the cliff was in a very fragile state due to a long period of heavy rain, followed by a thaw,” he said.

Roads nearby the scene were closed off as police investigated the area.

The resort was completely blocked off in 2009 when three avalanches fell on roads leading up to it, with hundreds of Britons among those trapped.

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