Industry News
A British school supervisor who went missing after a night out at a bar in a French Alps ski resort is believed to have frozen to death after getting lost on his way home. The body of Owen Lewis, 22, was spotted by a helicopter crew after a search had been launched in the Alps resort of Risoul, reports metro.co.uk.
Reports say he had been in the bar on his own and was waiting for friends to turn up the following day. Posters had been put up in the La Grotte de Yeti bar, where Lewis, originally from Coventry, UK had spent the night. The bar and restaurant are hugely popular with a young, international après ski crowd, and stay open until 2am.
His family raised the alarm when they were unable to contact him by phone the following day. A helicopter from the National Gendarmerie at nearby Briancon with mountain rescuers on board spotted the body. When officers arrived on foot, they recognized Owen immediately from the bar posters, and then found his identity papers including passport. His body was found by a mountain stream and the footprints suggest he had got lost before freezing in the snow as he tried to find the way home to his accommodation which was just a few hundred yards from the bar. Investigations are still underway into the tragedy, with local detectives carrying out inquiries.
Risoul is at 6070ft (1850m) and in the eastern Hautes-Alpes department of south-east France. It is hugely popular with British holidaymakers.
