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The rock fell at around 5am on Sunday morning
Parents manage to climb out of crushed chalet but boys aged seven and 10 are killed in France's Isola 2000 Alpine resort

Two children died when their mountain chalet was crushed by an enormous rock near the Alpine ski resort of Isola 2000 early on Sunday.

The boys, aged seven and 10, were asleep in the building with five adults when the tragedy happened at around 5am.

The massive block of rock measuring 10 metres by 5 metres smashed into a nearby road before plunging down on to the three-storey chalet at the edge of the village where two families were staying.

Jean-Marie Bogini, the local mayor, told French journalists that around 60 paramedics and mountain rescuers with sniffer dogs were at the scene. Three adults pulled themselves out of the collapsed building, while two other adults were rescued and taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The bodies of the two children, from different families, were discovered two hours later in the ruins.

It is the second week of the French winter school holidays when many families head to the mountains with their children to ski, and the busiest time of the year for the Alpine resorts.

The chalet was on the edge of the Isola village in the southern Alps.

Commander Gael Marchand explained the rock could have fallen because the rock face had been weakened by recent rains and milder weather.

"The rescue operation started around 4.30am following the rockfall on to the three-storey chalet, said one paramedic. "The two children were found dead under the rubble by the rescuers after an hour of searching," said one official.