Suffolk Student Dies After Snowboarding Accident in Alps

13 December 2012, 16:36 | Updated: 13 December 2012, 16:45

26 year old Emily Watts from Lavenham in Suffolk has died after a snowboarding accident in the French Alps.

Emily, also known as Mimi, fell headfirst into a snowdrift and was stuck for about 45 minutes after the incident in Chamonix on Saturday, December 8th. 

By the time emergency crews arrived, the 26-year-old from Lavenham had suffered a cardiac arrest.

Her parents, Nicky McAllister and Dominic Watts, along with her 27-year-old brother Rory, flew to France to be by her bedside but after a number of days on a life support machine, she died.

Her family met with rescuers this week to establish a better picture of what had happened and discovered a British man had called for help.

French police couldn't let Mimi's family know for a day as she wasn't wearing any identification

The design student was evacuated to hospital in nearby Annecy before being transferred to a specialist unit.

The experienced snowboarder had been in France for a few weeks and was working at the resort, in the Grands Montets, the largest pisted skiing area in the Chamonix Valley.

She was due to begin a masters degree course in design.