Five doctors swept to death by wall of snow

The group's French ski instructor also died.

The GPs from Perth, Annie and Jeremy Gillingham, were both 44. Their

two teenage children were ski-ing in Glenshee yesterday, unaware of the

accident.

A member of the British party of about 60 doctors said the French

authorities should investigate why it took 24 hours for the alarm to be

raised. Dr Peter Davidson, in London last night, said: ''I am very

concerned. It was far too long to survive in those conditions.'' He

added: ''Why wasn't a search party organised that day?''

A sixth British doctor, Dr Christopher Ackner, of Falmouth, Devon,

survived. He was being treated for shock in Bourg St Maurice hospital

after spending 24 hours in the snow. His rescuers said he survived by

huddling in a snowhole and that he escaped death only because he was the

last on the slope as the avalanche struck.

The Gillinghams, from Bridgend in Perth, and the other doctors were

taking part in a combined ski-ing holiday and medical conference at Val

d'Isere. They had been ski-ing off-piste in the area near the Col du

Palet when the avalanche struck around 11am on Saturday.

A 40-metre wall of snow had swept 300 metres down the slope, engulfing

all before it.

Ski groups were asking last night why no alarm was raised earlier. The

avalanche struck almost 24 hours before the authorities in Val d'Isere

were told seven people had gone on to the slopes the previous morning

and had not returned.

A spokesman at the British Consulate in Lyons said he understood the

alarm was raised only at 10am yesterday morning by the ski instructor's

wife.

A spokeswoman for the Ski Club of Great Britain said she would have

expected the ski school to try to contact the instructor if it had not

heard from him by the end of the day.

The spokeswoman said she understood the avalanche risk factor was

three out of five on the day, indicating that on most steep slopes

avalanches were ''likely'' to be caused by ''moderate addition load''

and ''occasional spontaneous avalanches are possible''.

She said the route the party took from Val d'Isere to Champagny was

not particularly steep. It was done by most ski schools in the area and

normally took three to four hours.

Dr Jeremy Gillingham and Dr Annie Gillingham were GPs in separate

Perth practices, but Dr Jeremy Gillingham had been asked to attend the

conference because of his position as an associate adviser appointed by

Tayside Health Board. They were due to have returned last night.

Their children Mark, 18, a first-year student in landscape

architecture at Heriot-Watt University, and Melissa, 16, a boarder at

Strathallan private school near Bridge of Earn, had themselves been

ski-ing, at Glenshee. They were told of their parents' deaths on their

return last night by their grandfather, Professor John Gillingham, a

retired neurosurgeon from Edinburgh.

Professor Gillingham said the children had taken the news very badly.

He added: ''They are a very close family. My son and his wife were full

of life and devoted to their patients and to their family, as it should

be.

''He and his wife have been a marvellous team looking after the people

of Perth and have been very popular. My son was academically inclined

and enjoyed lecturing at Dundee University. He had everything in front

of him.''

Professor Gillingham said both his son and daughter-in-law were very

experienced skiers and they had been taken off-piste by an experienced

guide.

He said it ''is always risky'', but added: ''They have been ski-ing

for many years -- since they were seven or eight years of age. They

would have been very aware of any potential dangers.''

Professor Gillingham said his wife Judy was coping with the shock of

losing the eldest of their four sons.

The three other doctors who died were named last night as: Dr Jan

Hofmeyr, Reading; Dr Howard Fleet, Little Kingshill, Buckinghamshire;

and Dr Claire Webber, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The French guide

was Mr Hugo Ferrier, 30.

The doctors were staying at La Foret hotel in Val d'Isere and were on

the last day of a #400 week-long stay organised by the ski company

Bladon Lines. Weather conditions on Saturday were said by the local ski

patrol to be good, but it is thought violent winds on Friday may have

created ideal conditions for avalanches.

The party of seven had set out from Val d'Isere on Saturday morning

for the extended ski-ing area of Tignes, Les Arcs and Champagny,

covering hundreds of miles of runs.

Although each wore avalanche bleep transmitters and it was understood

the guide carried a radio, it is believed the wall of snow struck them

down before any call for help could be raised.

Mr Jean-Louis Costerg, director of the ski patrol which rescued Dr

Ackner, said the huge windslab of snow swept some 300 metres down the

slope carrying all before it.

Mr Costerg said that snow on the ridge the group were crossing was

loosened by the weight of the skiers and a slab around 40 metres wide

was sent sliding down on top of them.

He said: ''We found the survivor first. He was in a snow hole he had

built. He was shocked but otherwise unhurt -- he was devastated about

his friends.

''We found the bodies quickly because of the bleepers and with the

rescue dogs. The bodies were buried in a half to three metres of snow.

All had died of asphyxia.''

Dr Ackner said: ''I am lucky to be alive.'' Mr Costerg added: ''It was

over in a matter of seconds. He was the last in the group and those

below him were caught by the avalanche.''

Mr Christopher Needler, the chairman of Bladon Lines, said last night:

''No-one in their party realised they were missing until breakfast this

morning.''