Eight climbers in Alps avalanche were struck by slab of ice 'the size of two football fields'

France's interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie said there was 'no chance of finding anyone alive'.

The minister gave her grim verdict during a visit to the region to visit injured survivors and rescue services based in the tourist town of Chamonix.

Hope lost: Rescuers halt their search for eight missing climbers in the French Alps

Five Austrian and three Swiss mountaineers are missing and presumed dead, while another seven people have been hospitalised.

The avalanche was triggered at 3am yesterday after a massive block of ice known as a serac, cracked off a side of the Mont Blanc du Tacul - a peak in the Mont Blanc range - at an altitude of about 11,800ft.

French authorities had deployed an extensive search mission involving dozens of rescue workers, four helicopters, Alpine guides and sniffer dogs.

Alpine climber Marika Zimmermann told French television that the area, popular with adventure-seekers, was known for avalanches.

'Ice regularly breaks off there.

'They were in the trail, but the problem was that the avalanche swept away the trail.'

Mission: French officials deploy Gendarmerie rescue helicopter

Police initially said 10 people were missing but later brought the number down to eight after two Italians turned up safe.

Rescue team leader Jean-Yves Moracchini said the seven people recovering in hospital mostly suffered broken bones and sprains.

The most serious injury was a broken vertebra, but there was no risk of paralysis for the climber.

Speaking from his hospital bed, survivor Nicolas Duquesne, 30, of Nice, said he felt lucky to be alive.

Operations: Rescue teams at work from their base in Chamonix

'The guide shouted, 'Run fast! Run fast!' It didn't make any noise. It really was impressive.

'We had just enough time to move away to the right before getting hit ... We were really lucky.'

An Alpine police official told France's TF1 television that rescue teams believed there was nothing more that could be done because the missing climbers were caught under the block of ice.

'From the moment we could locate them with radar echo and surface analyses, it was already five hours after the avalanche - so there's no more hope.

'They skidded between 1,000 and 1,500 yards.'

Disaster lurks: Mountaineers were swept away by a terrifying avalanche in the Mont Blanc range

The search was halted late yesterday afternoon because of fears warm weather melting other ice blocks could provoke fresh avalanches, officials said.

Mont Blanc du Tacul is one route that climbers often use to reach the top of Mont Blanc, western Europe's biggest mountain at 15,780ft.

The famed mountain that straddles the French-Italian border draws thousands of visitors each year, for hiking, skiing and mountaineering.