Lyon (AFP) – A person is still being sought on Tuesday evening after being swept away by water in Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, near Samoëns in the Haute-Savoie Alps, where the river overflowed after severe bad weather.

Published on: 08/04/2026 - 10:21 p.m. Modified on: 08/04/2026 - 11:45 p.m.

“The use of firefighting resources has not made it possible at this time to find the person who was swept away,” wrote the Haute-Savoie firefighters in a press release around 11:15 p.m.

“The operation is now moving into the research phase in the hands of the national gendarmerie,” they added.

The victim was swept away by the rising waters of the Giffre, a river which crosses the city and which has its source a few kilometers upstream in the Cirque du Fer à Cheval, in the early evening after a storm and heavy rainfall in the area.

At the same time, a mudslide also took place in the Cirque du Fer à Cheval, a gigantic natural limestone amphitheater very popular with hikers and tourists, and 15 people including two babies had to be evacuated by civil security helicopters.

The 170 people who had been brought to safety in a restaurant in Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, a town of 800 inhabitants which has a strong tourist attraction in the summer, are now authorized to "return to their means of accommodation by their own means", the congested road having been cleared, indicated the firefighters.

More than fifty firefighters were engaged on site during this intervention.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.