The French Alps were on maximum avalanche alert Thursday as Storm Eleanor swept through Europe, killing at least four people and fanning rare winter wildfires in Corsica.

An avalanche killed eight high school students on a mountain-climbing trip in Japan Monday, with more than 30 people reportedly injured.

Searchers have completed the grim hunt through the ruins of an Italian hotel buried by an avalanche and found the final bodies, bringing the toll to 29 dead, authorities said Thursday.

The death toll in Italy's avalanche disaster rose to 14 Tuesday as rescuers extracted the bodies of two women from a devastated hotel and continued their search for 15 people still missing, local authorities said.

Rescuers have pulled out six people alive from under the ruins of an Italian mountain hotel engulfed in a devastating avalanche two days ago, officials said on Friday.

Several children were among more than 25 people unaccounted for, feared dead, Thursday after an avalanche engulfed a mountain hotel in earthquake-ravaged central Italy.