A British skier has died in an avalanche in the French Alps.

The man, thought to be aged in his 50s, had been skiing off-piste in La Plagne, according to the resort.

It said in a statement that at 1.57pm on Sunday, rescue teams got an avalanche alert and went to the site in southeastern France.

A team of around 52 people, including medics and ski school instructors, as well as a helicopter-deployed piste dog, were called in.

The Englishman was discovered after 50 minutes of searching under 2.5m of snow, the resort said.

He was with a group when the avalanche struck, but was not equipped with an avalanche transceiver and was not with a professional instructor, it added.

La Plagne said its thoughts were with the man's family.