Snowboard star dies on Mont Blanc

Ruby had been a six-time snowboard world champion

Former French Olympic snowboard champion Karine Ruby has died in a climbing accident on Mont Blanc, French police say.

Ruby, aged 31, was found along with a second victim in a crevasse. A third person was airlifted to hospital.

Ruby won the giant slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympiade in Nagano, Japan, and took the silver medal in Salt Lake City four years later.

She also had six snowboard world champion titles to her name.

Since retiring in 2006, Ruby had been training to become a mountain guide.

'Exceptional sportswoman'

The accident happened when a group of climbers were crossing a glacier on their way down the mountain on Friday, Laurent Sayssac, a police official in the town of Chamonix, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Karine incarnated the emergence of snowboarding in France. The people of France will hold on to the memory of her talent and her joie de vivre French Prime Minister Francois Fillon

He said Ruby was roped to other climbers when she and some members of the group fell into the crevasse.

The identity of the other climber who died in the fall was not immediately known.

Fabien Saguez, technical director of the French Ski Federation, described Ruby as "an icon of French sport (whose) impact went well beyond snowboard and skiing".

In a statement, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon hailed Ruby as an "exceptional sportswoman".

He said: "Karine incarnated the emergence of snowboarding in France.

"The people of France will hold on to the memory of her talent and her joie de vivre."