British student dies in Val d’Isere
Friday January 16, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

According to a local newspaper she went out with friends last Monday night but left alone at around 1 O’Clock in the morning to walk back to her chalet.

It is thought she may have decided to take a short cut and got lost.  She may have decided to cross the local river where she slipped and fell in.

Other reports say she slipped into the river by accident.

A man on his way to work found her body the next morning.

The local police are not treating the death as suspicious and there were no other injuries found on her body.

The Foreign Office has tonight confirmed the death and named her as Rachel Ward who was in her 2nd year at Durham University.

She was on a private holiday, not a University organised trip, and Durham says it is deeply saddened and shocked by the loss.

The local police have confirmed there was some alcohol in her bloodstream but have not said how much.

Although it is not clear how much the alcohol played a part in this accident there have been a number of incidents in ski resorts of people drinking too much and then collapsing in the snow.

Last year in Italy a student spent all evening drinking and then passed out in the snow on the way home and died from hypothermia.  A few years ago in Verbier a man in his 20's died on New Year's Eve just a few metres from the main square when he collapsed after drinking too much.

In the Austrian resort of Kiztbühel when the Hahnenkamm race is on the police have special patrols that go round the town ensuring people haven't collapsed in the snow after drinking too much.

In Val d'Isere is was reported to be -15c overnight on Monday and it still remains cold across large parts of the Alps.

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