A 13-year-old girl from Kent has died after falling from a chairlift while on a school ski trip in the Italian Alps.
Poonam Bhattal, who was staying in Claviere near the French border with a party from the Guru Nanak Sikh academy, Middlesex, is understood to have fallen six metres from the lift at around 9.30am on Friday.
Emergency services attended to her but she died later on in the morning while being taken to hospital in Susa, about 25 miles (40km) from Claviere.
Italian police are investigating the accident. Local media reported that the bar on the Col Boeuf chairlift had been properly fixed.
In a statement, the school said 11 members of staff had been accompanying the children on the trip. "The leader of this trip and everyone associated with it is devastated by the death of an absolutely lovely student," it said. "Our thoughts are with the family and all others in the community affected by this tragedy."
It was unclear why Poonam had been taken to hospital in Susa and not the nearer French town of Briançon.
She is the third Briton to die on the ski slopes of the Alps this month. Jemima Prees, 10, died after hitting a tree at speed while skiing in the Austrian resort of Mayrhofen. Thomas Lynch, a 22-year-old holiday rep, died after smashing into a snow cannon in La Plagne, France.