British climber in fatal accident at Les Gaillands

Chamonix has hit the international news headlines today after a British teenager fell 50m to his death whilst rock climbing on the Les Gaillands crag.

The victim, named as 18-year-old Ian Jackson from Middlesbrough, was on holiday with two friends who witnessed yesterday afternoon's tragedy. A police spokesman said that Mr Jackson had started descending the "Chassuers" sector of the rock face when he made a 'grave technical error' involving his climbing ropes. Seemingly he only took hold of one rope instead of two, causing him to fall past his horrified friends who were watching from further down the crag.

According to the spokesman, the rescue services arrived swiftly by helicopter but it was already too late. “He fell a lot of metres and had no chance.” Mr Jackson's family have been told and are flying to France today or tomorrow to join his friends who are 'devastated' by what happened. 'They saw their friend falling from the top to the bottom. They could do nothing because when he was falling, it was too late.'

Mr. Jackson was airlifted to Geneva hospital but died on route. His body was then returned to Chamonix.

Situated beside the lake, Les Gaillands crag is a 20-minute walk from Chamonix town centre and is a hugely popular area during the summer months. The area is bolted and caters for a wide range of climbing abilities making it the perfect spot for mountain guides to teach climbing and local school children also use the area on Wednesday afternoons for climbing lessons.

Police said they understood Mr Jackson had 'two or three years' experience' of rock climbing and the Foreign Office are said to be investigating further into the accident.