ROME – A French alpine guide faces a possible five-year prison sentence for breaching migration laws after he discovered and helped a Nigerian family trapped high in the Alps. The family of four, including children aged two and four, as well as their 8-months pregnant mother, were attempting to cross the border between Italy and France.

 A humanitarian association announced that the guide found the family in Monginevro at an altitude of approximately 1,900 metres above sea level. From there, he led them to his car, hoping to go straight to the closest hospital near the French commune of Briançon.

 French police encountered the vehicle which they stopped to search and learnt that the guide was transporting the Nigerian family. They took the him straight to their barracks where he was placed under investigation. The pregnant woman was escorted by ambulance to an emergency room where she safely gave birth.

 The number of alpine crossings involving migrants, eager to gain access into France, has snowballed in recent years, although easier routes have been increasingly avoided. Instead, they have sought out less heavily patrolled, but subsequently more dangerous, high-altitude passes.

 Following a year of heavy snowfall, Alpine crossings have become especially treacherous, mounting the likelihood of death in high-risk avalanche conditions, with temperatures often falling below minus 20 degrees Celsius in winter.

 Whilst this incident may come as a fortunate encounter for the vulnerable Nigerian family, their less fortuitous French rescuer will have to await his verdict.

af