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France shooting: Annecy gun victims 'were UK tourists' | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Three of the four victims of a shooting in a quiet area near Lake Annecy in the French Alps appear to have been British tourists, a local official has said. | |
Prosecutor Eric Maillaud told AFP the identity of a dead man described as the father of the family had been "almost certainly" established. | |
The bodies of two women and a man were found in a British-registered BMW car. | |
Two young girls were found alive, one eight hours after the deaths. The other is in a critical condition in hospital. | |
The fourth person killed was a cyclist. | |
Mr Maillaud said the two women victims were yet to be definitively identified. He said a four-year-old girl was discovered hidden under the bodies. | |
Police told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the identity of the car had been traced. | |
He said the family was on holiday camping on the edge of Lake Annecy in the Haute-Savoie region, which is a popular tourist destination known for its swimming and water sports. | |
A cyclist who came across the scene at about 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Wednesday was said to be in shock. | |
The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of the shootings and was looking into them urgently. | The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of the shootings and was looking into them urgently. |
'No theory yet' | 'No theory yet' |
The area has now been sealed off by some 60 police, who have started a criminal investigation into what they are calling a multiple murder. | The area has now been sealed off by some 60 police, who have started a criminal investigation into what they are calling a multiple murder. |
One girl was initially reported to have died of her injuries but AFP later said Mr Maillaud, who had announced her death, had issued a correction. | |
He now says the child, thought to be aged under 10, is in a critical condition in intensive care in Grenoble. | |
The car park where the bodies were found is in a quiet, forested area in the foothills of the Alps. | The car park where the bodies were found is in a quiet, forested area in the foothills of the Alps. |
The two women's bodies were in the back of the car, while the man's was in the front. | The two women's bodies were in the back of the car, while the man's was in the front. |
A large number of spent cartridges are said to have been found on the ground around the BMW. | A large number of spent cartridges are said to have been found on the ground around the BMW. |
The BBC's Chris Bockman in the southern French city of Toulouse says the area is popular with Britons for its hiking opportunities and, in winter, cross-country skiing. | The BBC's Chris Bockman in the southern French city of Toulouse says the area is popular with Britons for its hiking opportunities and, in winter, cross-country skiing. |