Witness: Alps scene like a horror movie

They will join a small team of French investigators already in Britain to help find out what led to the shooting of engineer Saad al-Hilli, his wife and mother-in-law, as well as a French cyclist, near Lake Annecy a week ago.

Meanwhile, three more people were found in a car following a shooting on the French island of Corsica yesterday, although there was no immediate evidence of any link.

Carnage

A witness who came upon the aftermath of the Alps massacre likened the carnage to a horrific film scene.

The man, named as Philippe D (41), a hiker, told Le Parisien newspaper how he came across the scene while going walking with two female friends.

He recalled how the group was met by a "panic-stricken" British cyclist making his way down from the murder scene.

Arriving at the car park, Mr D saw the bodies of Mr al-Hilli (50), his dentist wife, Iqbal, and Mrs al-Hilli's mother in their bullet-ridden BMW.

The body of French cyclist Sylvain Mollier (45) lay on the ground. Zainab (7) was lying by the car.

"There wasn't a single sound," the walker said. "It was like in a film. One of those TV series that begins with a murder.

"I approached the car. I did not touch anything but I saw nothing could be done. There was no sign of life."

He turned his attention to the little girl: "She did not respond when we addressed her. I even spoke a few words of English because I saw that the car had a British number plate.

"As far as I could tell, she was dead."

hnews@herald.ie