Two more Britons killed in a major avalanche in the French Alps have been named by the Foreign Office as Steve Barber and John Taylor.

One of the UK's most respected climbers, Roger Payne, was also among the nine people who lost their lives after being hit by a massive wall of snow on Thursday.

The victims were killed as they traversed Mont Maudit - translated as Cursed Mountain - in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix.

The mountaineering world has led tributes to Payne, a mountain guide and former general secretary of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC).

BMC chief executive Dave Turnbull said the mountaineering world was "shocked and saddened" by his tragic death.

"Roger was one of the UK's most enthusiastic and respected climbers, with a track record of Alpine and Himalayan mountaineering stretching back to the 1980s," he added.

Kenton Cool, a leading Alpine climber who knew Mr Payne, described him as "one of the very best mountain guides" and said he was "stunned into a silence" after hearing the news.